Beat The Street

Beat the Street is a project that was initiated by Samsung and Veilig Verkeer Nederland (Dutch Traffic Safety Association) to encourage safe behavior in traffic among teenagers from 10 to 14 years old. In the Netherlands, children cycle to school every day and often have to navigate in tricky traffic situations.

The VR Experience utilizes innovative moving 360° cinematic shots, complex user-interaction, educational value and spatial sound to educate the viewer on the dangers of these everyday traffic situations. This unique project incorporated all these innovative elements for very deliberate reasons. Interactivity, for example, was added to gamify the experience in order to create a more appealing setting for the teenagers playing through the various scenarios. Additionally, the moving camera simulates the movement of a bike and therefore offers a further component of immersion, ensuring that the viewer is convinced of the reality of the situation. Overall, the combination of these features makes the experience more fun, engaging and memorable, which is the key to its success in serving as an educational tool.

Beat the Street was distributed for free via the Oculus store and can be viewed on Samsung GearVR headsets. With almost 23,000 downloads it is one of the most downloaded GearVR apps in the Netherlands and can also be ordered as a rental lesson package, with as many VR headsets as required.