--- title: "Nissan Wants to Beam 3D Anime Versions of People Into Its Cars" description: "Nissan's vision of the future called the \"Metaverse\" includes a 3D holographic avatar system that could keep you company on long drives." date: "2019-03-12" modified: "2019-03-12" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nissan-invisible-to-visible-metaverse" categories: - "3D Printing" - "Future Materials" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "augmented reality" - "concept car" - "Nissan" - "the digest" --- # Nissan Wants to Beam 3D Anime Versions of People Into Its Cars ![]() *\Image: Bright Side Car/YouTube\* ## Invisible-to-Visible Japanese automaker Nissan announced today it wants to beam "three-dimensional, augmented-reality avatars" into the cabin of its cars — and it's already racing ahead with some preliminary tests. In other words, you'll be able to interact with 3D, anime-style holograms of people inside your Nissan. "The companies will evaluate how the people inside the car and those represented through avatars sense each other's presence via the user interfaces," reads [yesterday's press release](). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIy9BTJyTnE ## Enter the Metaverse Nissan showed off a rather peculiar concept at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January: "Invisible-to-Visible" (I2V) technology is meant to beam information — like the locations of pedestrians or physical landmarks — from the outside world right on to your dashboard. Nissan's "Metaverse" is a virtual world that blends with the real world to create "the ultimate connected-car experience," according to technology expert at the Nissan Research Center Testuro Ueda in a [press release](). Whether Nissan got its inspiration from Neal Stephenson's 1992 sci-fi classic "[Snow Crash]()" is unclear. In other words: 3D holograms of stuff we see in the real world. "Sensing data, gathered from the space around us as we drive, and interactions with virtual information are brought to life by three-dimensional, augmented visuals in front of us," said Ueda. ## Providing Avatar Company If that sounds odd and a little vague, that's because it is. No release date has been set and apart from some flashy renders released in January for its debut at CES, Nissan hasn't shown us much of what that future could actually look like. Besides, hologram technology simply doesn't exist yet — or at least not in this form. That would explain why CES attendants had to wear giant AR goggles to experience Nissan's vision of the future. **READ MORE:** [Nissan is testing its weird Invisible-to-Visible tech in Japan using 5G]() \[*CNET*\] **More on Nissan:** *[Nissan’s Xmotion SUV Concept Will Make You Feel Like You’re Driving in a Video Game]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()