Nissan has announced that they have begun testing their Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology thanks to a partnership with Japanese telecom giant, NTT DOCOMO.

The technology, first revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas early this year is now being field tested at Grandrive, Nissan’s proving ground in Yokosuka, Japan.

Using NTT DOCOMO’s 5G cellular network, Invisible-to-Visible, or I2V, merges the real and virtual worlds. A future part of Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology, it combines information from sensors outside and inside the vehicle with data from the cloud helping drivers “see the invisible” such as what’s farther down the road, behind a building, or around the corner.

I2V also connects drivers and passengers to the Metaverse, a virtual world where people can interact through avatars. Family, friends or others in a remote location can appear inside the car as three-dimensional, augmented-reality avatars to provide company or assistance.

For the field test, the companies are using DOCOMO’s high-speed, large-capacity, low-latency mobile 5G connectivity to transmit avatar data wirelessly into the test vehicle, and in-car camera views from the vehicle, in real time. The test vehicle is based on Nissan’s NV350 Caravan.

The companies will evaluate how the people inside the car and those represented through avatars sense each other’s presence via the user interfaces. The usability of I2V’s interactive communication features will also be assessed.

Nissan and DOCOMO plan to continue their joint field tests and research on I2V technology and its applications, and to offer novel connected-car experiences to customers in the future.