Video: See How Ford Used Virtual Reality to Design the GT Supercar

Using a headset and a giant ultra-high-definition display, Ford Motor Co. last week provided a glimpse of how virtual reality enabled its engineers to collaborate across continents on the design of its new GT supercar.

At the Ford Research and Innovation Center in Palo Alto, Calif., a team of designers showed how a headset and a virtual flashlight enabled them to check fit, finish, craftsmanship, quality, visibility, and myriad other parameters on a prototype version of the supercar.

"We look at the perceived quality of the vehicle and we do engineering work,” said Elizabeth Baron, Ford’s virtual reality and advanced visualization technical specialist. “The data we are looking at is the engineering data with the design in it.”

Ford employed virtual reality to check fit, finish and craftsmanship while prototyping the GT supercar.
(Source: Ford Motor Co.)

Indeed, the engineering data contains every imaginable detail, from the operation of the steering wheel to the placement of dashboard interfaces. Sitting in a chair in front of the giant display, Baron demonstrated how engineers could check forward, side, and rear visibility from the “driver’s seat.”

”It’s important to understand ‘up-vision,’ which is what you see when you look up at a stop light, and ‘down-vision,’ which is what you see when you look over the hood,” Baron said. Using virtual reality, Ford engineers checked the visibility and even determined if the positioning of the vehicle’s A-pillars could cause problems for drivers.

The technology enabled engineers at Ford Immersion Labs around the world to collaborate on the details of the GT while it was in its prototype stage. The giant automaker has ultra-high-definition (about four times the resolution of an HDTV) “powerwalls” in Germany, China, India, and Brazil.

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The Immersion Lab allows engineers to analyze 3D models and even cut a section view at any point in the vehicle to see how structural, mechanical, and electrical sub-systems interact with the overall architecture.

Ford said the GT isn’t the first time it has used virtual reality to tweak its designs. In 2013, the company’s designers and engineers verified more than 135,000 details on 193 virtual vehicle prototypes. Most notably, it changed side view mirror placement on the Fusion sedan, as well as the dashboard and windshield wipers of the Mustang.

Click on the video below to see how the virtual reality experience enabled Ford engineers to examine quality, fit, and finish of the Ford GT.

Senior technical editor Chuck Murray has been writing about technology for 31 years. He joined Design News in 1987, and has covered electronics, automation, fluid power, and autos.