South Korean tech giant LG announced this week the launch of U+ DRIVE, an immersive experience platform for smartphones.
U+ DRIVE is a mobile content library that facilitates the distribution of XR content and already has around 1,500 XR assets ranging from education, gaming, entertainment, and tourism experiences.
According to reports, LG is planning to release roughly 3,000 digital extended reality (XR) assets to U+ DRIVE by January next year.
To celebrate the platform’s debut, LG is hosting a virtual reality (VR) art exhibition featuring popular K-pop boy band NCT 127.
In the virtual exhibition, NCT 127 fans can engage with the group by playing different VR games and taking part in interactive storytelling experiences.
Additionally, LG is releasing unseen photos, videos, and voice recordings of NCT 127 exclusively through the VR immersive exhibition.
The news comes as agency and managers of NCT 127, SM Entertainment, provided fans with a augmented reality (AR) concert in October through the LG streaming channel U+ Idol Live.
In a statement to Korea JoongAng Daily, LG said at the time,
“The biggest characteristic of this concert is that we added technology so that fans can really enjoy the concert happening in the augmented reality as if it is real”
LG’s XR platform is available in 21 countries, including the United States, and is available for download in select regions on the Google Playstore and Apple iOS.
LG XR Hardware
The news comes as the South Korean tech giant launches severak key solutions to build extended reality (XR) technologies and meet the rising demand for such solutions in the industry.
LG InnoTek recently announced in October it would provide Apple and Microsoft with 3D Time of Flight (ToF) modules for use in both firms’ upcoming VR headsets.
Previously, the South Korean firm supplied integral components to Apple for developing LIDAR scanners, which use lasers to calculate distances between objects on onboard cameras.
LG is also backing XR technologies with a high-speed ‘LG U+’ personal mobile service to stream movies of roughly 1GB in just “27 seconds,” allowing LG U+ mobile users to stream XR applications wirelessly to their smartphones for low-latency, high-resolution immersive experiences on the go.
With this, LG provides a powerful telecom infrastructure to support South Korean smartphone users streaming social XR experiences and give local brands a platform to seamlessly connect with consumers.
