Shanghai2023/6/19 /PRNewswire/ -- Last year, Unity China and Zebra Intelligence announced a strategic cooperation. The Unity integrated development environment officially listed AliOS as the operating system for standard output. AliOS also became the first smart car operating system in China equipped with the Unity engine.

As the cooperation progresses, Unity China and Zebra Intelligence recently announced that the Unity engine and Alios have achieved deeper integration and performance optimization, greatly expanded the 3D performance and application scenarios of automotive applications on AliOS, and provided an efficient and reliable 3D HMI platform for a wide range of car companies.

The 3D HMI design trend is emerging because the human perception of the world is 3D. Through 3D design, users can better understand the changes that are taking place in the car, making human-computer interaction smoother and more natural, and also effectively improving the driving experience. Under this trend, real-time 3D engines have become an essential part of building HMI. Unity, the world's leading real-time 3D content creation platform, has taken the lead in deploying HMI and empowered many smart cars such as Wei Xiaoli.

Thanks to the efforts of the teams of Unity China and Zebra Zhixing, it not only achieved research on the underlying technology of 3D HMI, but also helped SAIC Zhiji take the lead in building the smart cockpit operating system iM OS based on Alios, leading a new direction for human-vehicle interaction systems.

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AliOS, which is equipped with the Unity engine, not only achieved deep integration at the system level on the R&D and design side, but also obtained improved 3D HMI design effects and simplified development processes. The two parties worked together to build a differentiated and personalized intelligent cockpit 3D HMI design platform.

First, Zebra Zhixing's R&D team deeply integrated AliOS with the Unity engine at the system layer, covering life cycle management, access to hardware and networks, etc. In terms of performance, this has improved the efficiency of Unity's use of GPUs and CPUs, making the HMI run more smoothly. At the same time, the unique advantages of Alios in multi-screen multi-window display and cross-screen flow also allow Unity's powerful interactive features to be better used.

At the same time, with Unity's powerful real-time rendering capabilities, AliOS can achieve more detailed realistic visual effects. This allows developers not only to create diverse personalized themes when designing 3D HMI, but also to achieve functional designs for various scenarios such as autonomous parking, NOA, and 3D car models, bringing drivers a better visual and vehicle experience.

Furthermore, in order to better simplify the development process, Unity provides a set of “what you see is what you get” development tools, which not only reduces code development work, but also greatly improves the communication efficiency between designers and developers. On this basis, Zebra Intelligence has also formed a complete 3D HMI design and development process, standards and specifications.

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Based on the Unity engine and the powerful features provided by Zebra Zhixing, SAIC Zhiji pioneered the smart cockpit operating system IM OS based on Alios. The latest IM OS 2.0 version integrates the Unity engine at the system level and can render UI in real time in a way that saves system resources, providing a solid foundation for upgrading the visual effects of smart cockpits.

Take the automatic assisted navigation and driving most commonly used by users as an example. Through Unity's powerful rendering capabilities, Zhiji IM OS can generate hyperrealistic 3D map navigation images in real time based on road conditions, making the way for drivers to observe vehicle conditions and understand road conditions more convenient and efficient. In the past, information that required repeated scanning and confirmation of road conditions may only be understood with a simple “glance” after 3D conversion, which also paves the way for improving driving safety.

Similarly, 3D parking helps drivers make safer decisions with a more intuitive interface and simpler interaction. In the automated parking scenario, the entire vehicle and vehicle circumference data are reconstructed on the screen based on 3D technology. Users can identify vehicles, obstacles, and parking spaces at a glance, and can intuitively operate the parking process in a “God's perspective” to avoid danger to the greatest extent possible.

In terms of information interaction design, Zhimi IM OS introduced interactive 3D car models. Through Unity's real-time rendering capabilities, it was possible to better spread the brand's pursuit of artistic atmosphere. In addition to looking good, the 3D car model also greatly reduces the level of information, makes it easier for users to browse and operate, and provides a more efficient way for human-computer interaction.

In the trend of intelligent automobiles, 3D is the only way to go. Unity China believes that 3D HMI design can be applied in far more ways than that. With the full cooperation of Unity and Zebra Smart, Unity China will provide more 3D HMI capabilities to car companies, increase research on key core technologies, carry out key research and development around technological directions such as smart cockpit systems, 3D vehicle, and in-car XR, promote the intelligent transformation and upgrading of the automotive industry, and use the world's leading real-time 3D technology to drive the transformation of automobiles from means of transportation to smart space.