Extended reality is transforming how the automotive industry designs, validates and builds vehicles, as experts from Renault Group, General Motors and Stellantis explored in the latest FISITA Digitalisation Expert Group webinar.
The session, Immersive Simulation: XR in the Automotive Industry, State of the Art and Challenges, brought together leading specialists to examine how virtual, mixed and augmented reality are being applied across the full vehicle development cycle, from early design through to manufacturing, validation and customer experience.
The expert panel featured:
- Stéphane Regnier, Expert Leader, Immersive Simulation & Virtual Reality, Renault Group
- Kevin Irrer, Global Technical Specialist, Thermal / 3D CFD, General Motors
- David Defianas, Expert Leader, Immersive Simulation & Virtual Reality, Stellantis
- Martin Kahl, Director of Technical, FISITA
Extended Reality (XR), the umbrella term spanning Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), Augmented Reality (AR) and visual simulation, is increasingly central to how vehicles are developed. The session explored how immersion, interaction and real-time rendering combine to enable human-in-the-loop workflows, bringing engineers, designers and stakeholders together around a shared virtual model.
Among the key themes discussed:
- XR blends render engines (light transport) and physics engines (mechanics) to deliver both visual realism and physical accuracy
- Real-world automotive case studies spanning cockpit ergonomics, perceived quality reviews, manufacturing feasibility and customer-facing configurators
- The application of CAE in XR, visualising engine thermal flows, electric-drive cooling and aerodynamic wakes in intuitive, immersive ways
- Why open standards such as OpenUSD and OpenXR are critical to scaling adoption across the industry
- The technical requirements for comfort and fidelity: under 25 ms latency, at least 30 fps, and around 1,000 Hz for haptic feedback
The discussion underlined both the maturity of immersive simulation in delivering real value today, and the challenges that remain around data preparation, deployment at scale and device evolution.
NEXT UP
FISITA’s next free webinar, Driving Circularity: A New Mindset to Achieve Sustainability, takes place on 18 June, featuring The Future is Neutral, Toyota Motor Europe, Cyclic Materials and Strat Anticipation.