27 November 2013

Volkswagen’s Conceptual App Creates Music From Unique Driving Styles

[Click here to view the video in this article]







Does the kind of music you listen to affect the way you drive? Volkswagen turned this question on its head in its new ‘Play The Road’ project to promote the Original Golf GTI. The German automobile manufacturers collaborated with Underworld to design a new innovative app that makes music according to unique driving behaviors.



The project aims to reinvent driving music by using an iPhone app to read drivers’ unique driving movements, speed and location. Every steer and acceleration is calculated from a combination of the accelerometer, gyroscope and GPS receiver, and this data is translated, real-time, into personalized music.



Audio Specialist Nick Ryan of Underworld sought to compose a “musical soundscape” by creating “musical stems that could be attributed to locations and specific driving behaviors”.



“Using the musical program language PD (Pure Data) the music and data were brought together. Different musical motifs were attached to different data streams, so the cars movements or locations would trigger and effect the music live,” reads a description on the website.



The app is not commercially available at the moment, but we may soon be able to create soundtracks for future roadtrips.



































[via Gizmodo and Volkswagen, video via UK Volkswagen on YouTube]