Touchcast has launched an end-to-end automotive customer experience in the metaverse, running on Microsoft Azure, allowing consumers to browse, customize, and purchase their dream car inside an interactive virtual showroom, directly from their browser, without needing a VR headset or specialized software.
Touchcast’s Metaverse-as-a-Service platform lets automotive manufacturers create a photorealistic digital twin of their showroom and display their vehicles in gorgeous real-time 3D.
Consumers can interact with a real automotive expert, ask questions, explore new features, take a virtual test drive, buy their vehicle, and return anytime for post-sales support.
The first metaverse showroom powered by Touchcast is the Fiat Metaverse Store, featuring the new FIAT 500 electric.
“We are proud to be the first-to-market in rethinking the customer experience, offering an immersive human-driven journey into the FIAT World. This is the FIAT way: simple and user-friendly, pursuing the idea of ‘tech it easy,’ being accessible to all,” says Laurent Diot, SVP Marketing and Communications Fiat and Abarth.
“FIAT is always relevant; to maintain this role, we must effectively anticipate customers’ needs. We achieve this also by reversing one of the automotive paradigms: the customers don’t come to FIAT, FIAT goes to them. This is one of the key innovative pillars on which the launch of the FIAT 500 in the United States will rely.”
Touchcast’s Metaverse-as-a-Service platform is built on Azure and deployed through Microsoft Teams, granting access to the metaverse to customers without requiring avatars or specialized hardware.
Touchcast renders a live video feed of a sales representative into the sales environment, synthesizing digital and physical into an immersive mixed-reality experience unlike any other.
“The metaverse represents a fundamental change in the way we communicate, and the world’s leading automotive companies have identified it as a solution to their core business challenges,” said Edo Segal, Touchcast founder and CEO.
The Touchcast platform helps OEMs transform how they design, sell and support by moving their current workflows to the metaverse. And because Touchcast is fully integrated into Microsoft Teams, company representatives can be anywhere in the world, helping OEMs tap into a global, diverse and inclusive talent pool.”
Artificial intelligence from Azure Cognitive Services scaffolds the Touchcast metaverse experience and can recognize when a keyword or phrase is spoken aloud. One mention of ‘EV charging’ or ‘safety features’ automatically pivots the demonstration to show key features in action.
“Doing more with less is more important than ever as organizations are navigating uncertainty and shaping the future, and technology is an important tool to bridge the gap and provide interesting solutions,” said Sanjay Ravi, General Manager, Automotive, Mobility and Transportation Industry, Microsoft.
“Working with Microsoft and Touchcast, OEMs are now able to reimagine the entire customer journey inside the metaverse and combine a digital-first experience with the personal touch of a human concierge, all at a fraction of the cost of a physical showroom or traditional online car configurators.”
Touchcast will be showcasing its Metaverse-as-a-Service platform at CES 2023 in the Microsoft Automotive booth #6017 in the West Hall.
