The day when most of us are driving around while the kids play driving games in the back seat is getting closer. Hyundai and Polestar today announced a partnership with Nvidia to bring cloud gaming to their cars.
The scene is the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. It used to stand for Consumer Electronics Show, but everything in America has to be a little absurd these days. So “CES” is officially no longer an acronym. So, we have to call it the “CES consumer electronics show” to explain what it is. Sigh.
Cloud-Based; Some Games Free
Both companies are partnering with Nvidia to bring that company’s GeForce Now cloud-based gaming service to some cars. Neither company revealed which cars would get the games first.
Nvidia says the service “delivers a full PC-gaming experience to nearly any device, including laptops, mobile devices, smart TVs — and now, personal vehicles.” It offers more than 1,500 titles, the company says, “including top-rated games such as ‘A Plague Tale: Requiem,’ ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt,’ and ‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ from leading stores such as Steam, Epic Games Store, the EA app, Ubisoft and GOG.com.”
You’ll have to pay for those, but free-to-play games “Fortnite,” “Lost Ark,” and “Destiny 2” are also available.
Requires 4G, 5G Connection
That doesn’t mean the service won’t cost you. Since the games are cloud-based, they will require a connection. “On the road, you need a reliable 4G or 5G connection,” Nvidia vice president of automotive Danny Shapiro told reporters. Most automakers charge a monthly fee for such connections, though new cars often come with a free trial period.
Hyundai and Polestar join a growing list of automakers building games into their cars. Tesla recently announced an update that brought Steam gaming to some of its EVs. BMW has announced plans to bring AirConsole games to its cars as early as this year.
For safety reasons, both automakers allow passenger screens to run games at any time, but the screens accessible to the driver will run games only when the car is parked.
