Neom has announced that its subsidiary Neom Tech & Digital Company has launched XVRS, which is billed as a 3D cognitive digital twin metaverse platform. It is envisioned to enable a ground-breaking mixed-reality urban living model. The platform combines digital and physical (Neom) architectures with hyper-connected technologies and AI features, and is said to enable the seamless integration of the virtual and real worlds.
The project has the potential to fuel diversification and unlock significant economic opportunity for Neom, the Kingdom, its global partners and cities across the world.
According to a statement from Neom, XVRS aims to offer users ‘multiple points of view’ and the ability to feature in a variety of locations across the metaverse in real time (via teleportation) as an avatar, hologram or robotic avatar. Its core features include:
- Dynamic digital twin: ‘It will be a mixed-reality twin’ with ‘live cognitive virtual twins’
- Immersive mixed reality: Enabling simultaneous physical-digital presence
- Digital assets marketplace: Built-in crypto and NFT monetisation and transaction platform
The announcement from Neom comes as part of its digital unit’s investment of nearly $1bn in AI-driven products and hyperconnected, autonomous solutions that will provide competitive advantage and enable the next generation of cognitive enterprises and cities, an official from the firm said.
“The future will be defined not by megacities, but by cognitive meta cities. It is a vision focused on experiences rather than scale. XVRS puts human needs at its core. XVRS is the only iteration of the metaverse currently in development that will be a mixed-reality, 3D digital twin of a physical place — in our case, the Neom community. It will be comprised of next-generation digital assets that users can interact with in the real world,” said Joseph Bradley, CEO, Neom Tech & Digital Company.
He added, “We are delighted to be announcing this unique metaverse at LEAP22, to share with the world how Neom and Saudi Arabia are using cutting-edge technologies to have a positive impact on our lives.”
Su Le, chief digital & strategy officer, Neom Tech & Digital Company concluded, “Beside dynamic digital twinning and an integrated mixed-reality environment populated by humanoid robotic avatars, Neom’s ‘cognitive metaverse’ will offer a gamified experience with distinctive exploration and entertainment features, an instant language translation tool, a social platform that fosters interaction, and a full-fledged digital marketplace. These are all elements that make XVRS a truly ground-breaking innovation.”
