The 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport hasn't hit dealerships yet, but customers will be able to sit inside the SUV, look around, and even fold the seats down thanks to an augmented reality program run from an iPhone.
The key to the setup is an Durovis Dive headset, which you plop an iPhone into while running a special app.
When you look through the contraption at the "activation marker," a cardboard box resembling a Borg cube, the phone starts running an animation. Based on the phone's position and proximity of the marker, the app simulates the presence of a Discovery Sport.
Land Rover describes the experience as being "immersed in a detailed photo-realistic 3D model of the New Discovery Sport." Based on these sample images I'm not sure about photo-realistic... but it's PlayStation 2 level at least.
The animations that open doors and fold seats down in response to your presence are the coolest part anyway.
This system is in place at 117 Land Rover dealerships, with the actual vehicle landing in around six weeks. It'd be great to see this concept proliferate into other dealerships, or better yet create a way to check out new cars in your own driveway.
Images via Land Rover