For the first time, the Unreal Engine will be used in a consumer automobile, as all displays in the new GMC Hummer EV are powered by the…
The Hummer name evokes images of excessive, gas-guzzling, caricatures of the SUV craze that took over North America in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But the name was recently resurrected as the GMC Hummer EV, with 1,000 horsepower, over 350 miles of range, a hands-free semi-autonomous driving mode, and four-wheel-steering. Positioned as GMC’s halo product, it is a showcase of incredible new features that will trickle down into more mainstream vehicles. One small part of the technology found in the Hummer EV will have a significant impact, spreading to many cars over the coming years. For the first time, the Unreal Engine will be used in a consumer automobile, as all displays in the new GMC Hummer EV are powered by the very same software that enables some of the most popular and visually stunning video games on the market. Scott Martin, Creative Director of User Interface Design at General Motors (parent company of GMC) explains that the lengthy process of picking the Unreal Engine. “It took us over eight months to find a perfect partner,” he says. “But this is about more than just the features. This is also about the team and the partnership. Epic Games and its Unreal Engine is used by game developers all over the world.” Indeed, some of the most popular games on the market, like Fortnite, Rocket League, Gears 5, Borderlands, Crash Bandicoot 4, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, and more use the Unreal Engine. Some of those games are pretty graphically intensive, and Gears 5, for example, is used in TechSpot’s GPU benchmarking tests. You can expect big things from an Unreal Engine-powered infotainment system. The ability to render detailed imagery in real-time is an asset when it comes to off-roading and the activation of the hands-free Super Cruise system. Martin explains that automakers usually have to reprocess all of the imagery and renders of the vehicle down for use on the in-car display and that it can be very resource-intensive. “That’s something the video game industry has been doing for a long time,” he says. ”It’s very similar to what [game developers] are doing, and in terms of software development, the gaming industry has unified these processes, making it easier and quicker for us to do it.” Therefore the models used for the design of the actual vehicle are similar to those used to represent the vehicle on the in-car displays.
