Holoride – an Audi spin-off founded in 2018 – is focused on bringing the metaverse into vehicles. The company aims to “make transit time count” for passengers by offering in-car XR experiences enriched through real-time car sensor data.
Whereas most VR experiences are currently mainly visual in nature their products aim to be more immersive by making users actually feel what they see. Naturally passengers are their main target group for now, but autonomous driving may also enable driver-focused use-cases at some point in the future.
Beyond these interesting consumer use-cases, their platform also creates opportunities for both automotive OEMs, who are keen to find ways to monetize their vehicle data, as well as content creators aiming to monetize their 3D content. All these parties are brought together through a central platform enhanced by blockchain technology, NFTs and the platform’s utility token RIDE. The token will be used to pay out partner royalties (e.g. as part of user vehicle/content engagement or selling of virtual goods) as well as provide a variety of other utilities to the ecosystem – from governance, through community benefits to a grants program.
This example demonstrates two main growth levers of the metaverse. The first is related to metaverse strategies and the creation of new markets and product innovation opportunities. Companies that systematically identify and capture these will generate growth beyond their existing product and service portfolios. The second is related to innovative monetization approaches. Web3 and blockchain create new digital ownership primitives and opportunities for novel platform monetization approaches. Companies that successfully make use of tokenization to not only grow the attractiveness of their platform for participants but also create revenue opportunities for themselves and other parties are likely to capture significant upside through the metaverse. In the short-term, however, companies that adopt such innovative metaverse monetization models will have to find ways to provide a frictionless experience for non-blockchain-native ecosystem participants. Payments and payouts in traditional FIAT currencies will need to be fairly balanced in relation to those using the platform's native token.
