Happy Finish Create VR Experience to Help Reduce Road Rage

There's barely anyone that doesn't suffer from road rage while navigating the city's streets, but it can be diffcult truly understanding another person's perspective on the road. Thankfully, Happy Finish has created a practical solution in the form of a VR campaign for Ford.

WheelSwap allows users to not only experience another driver's viewpoint but also to empathise with it. 

By creating two experiences, one through the eyes of a driver and one through the eyes of a cyclist, users can see the stresses and strains faced by both and help them to act more cautiously while on the road.

Above: Cyclist POV

The campaign forms part of Ford's wider Share the Road campaign which aims to create some peace between car drivers and cyclists in Europe.

Research conducted by Ford after users tried the experiences revealed that 70 percent of users felt greater empathy for drivers and cyclists and it affected the way they acted while on the road immediatedly.

"Being early practitioners in the creation of highly immersive VR experiences, we anecdotally already knew the power of such a level of immersion and the potential that has to prompt behavioural change," says Happy Finish's global CEO Daniel Cheetham. "It’s genuinely exciting to now have hard scientific evidence to that effect. Working with the team at Ford and WPP over the past couple of years has been great, we are particularly proud of our work together that increases road user’s attention to safety. If our work helps to save just one life on the road, then our mission is accomplished." 

Above: Driver POV

The initiative will be rolled out across Europe, by being introduced at various Driving Skills for Life courses held by Ford across 14 European countries. And there's scope for it to be picked up in North America and Asia-Pacific too.

Here's hoping it will make the roads a safer place to be!