UPDATED 16:20 EDT / MARCH 10 2017

EMERGING TECH

The ‘Scobleizer’ proclaims 2017 the year of virtual reality at SXSW

Last year’s breakout, mobile gaming hit Pokeman GO relied on augmented reality for its unique combination of digital imagery “monsters” laid on top of real-world visuals and GPS mapping. If that’s how you like your AR, then you’re really going to love The Scobleizer’s vision of the future.

“In the next five years, you’re going to see some mind-blowing things; in fact, in just the next year, I predict that this thing [his wearable] is going to turn into a three-ounce pair of glasses that’s going to put virtual stuff on top of the world,” said Robert Scoble (pictured), partner of Transformation Group LLC.

He proudly wore his own Microsoft HoloLens throughout the interview, backing up his claim of total dedication to the world of virtual/augmented reality.

Scoble spoke to John Furrier (@furrier), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during the South by Southwest event in Austin, TX. They discussed new aspects of virtual reality, as well as the promise of autonomous vehicles. (*Disclosure below.)

Is it live, or it is virtual reality?

Considered “augmented reality” or “mixed reality” technology, The HoloLens adds information on top of a view of the real world. Scoble envisions a future SXSW where wearables can do things like put blue lines on the floor to show people where meetings are happening, or insert a small screen within the glasses to view theCUBE’s live broadcast while he’s walking the event.

Another exciting field of virtual reality is related to autonomous cars. Scoble said that are three new startups for cars that he believes are on the cutting edge of auto technology: Quanergy, which leads with sensor technology; DeepScale, which develops perception for autonomous vehicles; and Luminar Technologies, which has developed a new kind of 3D map of the world.

The Luminar technology can map every pothole and every bridge ahead of time, and then as the car drives in the real world, the car’s “brain” can compare the virtual map with what’s going on in the real world and make its decisions based on the latest information.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the South by SouthWest (SXSW). (*Disclosure: Intel sponsors some SXSW segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Intel nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE

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