We’re deep into the Internet of Things era, in which you can control home, office, and other devices from your mobile device, so news of the a Twitter-powered car seems like par for the course.
Polish video game developer, Techland, has revealed a promotion for its upcoming game, Dying Light: The Following, that uses tweets with the hashtag #TweetForSpeed to send a physical slot car around a track at the gamemaker’s headquarters.
So how does it work? Basically, the track has been fitted with a Belkin WeBo device that kicks the power on and off whenever Techland’s algorithm recognizes a tweet with the aforementioned hashtag.
Techland touts that something like this has never been done before, and indeed it’s an interesting interaction for fans all over the globe. There’s a live stream of the slot car in action, which states that over 5,000 tweets have already been submitted. Don’t expect to see the slot car whizzing around the track all day, but you can check in on its status from time to time.
Of course the concept is pretty straightforward, but my brain immediately jumps to bigger and better applications. Drivers in full-size cars that can only be motivated with tweets? Sounds like a one heck of a game show to me. The closest parallels to this concept are shows where audience engagement reveals clues or perks for certain teams.
Somewhat related, vehicular connectivity is one of the hottest topics these days, as CES proved earlier this month. It seems every automaker is in a mad race to expand social media and car-to-car connectivity features as drivers expect to be “plugged in” during all parts of their day. While remote hacking is an ever-present concern, the safety and convenience benefits outweigh the risks in most consumers’ eyes.
