Virtual Reality in the Future of Transportation: How Marketers Can Influence the Way We View Change

Virtual reality is everywhere – major tech and gaming companies are seemingly releasing new at-home VR components on a regular basis. But have you considered how VR can help shape the future of the AEC industry?

In AEC firms around the country, marketers and engineers are incorporating AI and VR into our proposals and projects. We must continually employ the most cutting-edge technology to keep our clients and stakeholders informed, interested, and invested. Major transportation clients are looking for ways to persuade their key stakeholders to be in favor of transportation improvements – but how can we as AEC marketers help advance this initiative?

With technology evolving on an ongoing basis, AEC marketers need to be constantly learning and evolving how we adapt and incorporate these technologies into our proposals and our client deliverables. Our firms now have the capacity to develop software to help our clients and stakeholders “step into” these proposed changes using VR technology. For many people, it can be challenging to visualize what a proposed intersection change, for example, would look like once completed, or how it would affect their daily commute. With the use of advanced 3D modeling and VR technology, we can invite the public to see the finished product, not just to imagine it. Considering so many transportation projects take years to complete and cause a disturbance to so many residents, this is an excellent tool to help the public see the bigger picture of what the future can hold.

As marketers, we need to leverage this technologyinto winning new and more innovative work – our past performance is our best qualification. We need to find innovative ways to incorporate this new technology into our proposals and client meetings to show them what our capabilities are.

Most individuals will not fully comprehend VR technology until they experience it first-hand, so keeping attentionis critical. We need to harness the innovation aspect of this new technology to entice people to “see what the fuss is about.” From there, our marketing capabilities are boundless – rather than traditional proposals and client deliverables, we can prepare VR walk-throughs of proposed land developments, intersection redesigns, and sustainable master-planned communities which, instead of telling a client what the benefit of that project will be, we can show them.

VR, as it continues to evolve, will be a game-changing technology for marketers across industries. Previously “boring” projects can now be fully visualized andwalked through by the important decision makers at their discretion. If changes need to be made, they can see these changes completed in real time by doing another VR walk through once completed. These VR walkthroughs and capabilities can complement the engineers’ CADD drawings and vision, by helping our clients to understand exactly what it is we are proposing.