Download here!

How does it work?

Navigation takes place in realtime in the live-camera image of your smartphone. Next to a conventional 3D map view, Wikitude Drive has a spectacular Augmented Reality camera view, where driving directions are directly drawn into the real road you are driving on.

The advantages:

The system works by attaching your mobile phone on top of your dashboard with the camera facing the road. The application then overlays video captured through the camera with driving instructions. This allows users to literally drive through their phone, watching the road even while they are looking at directions.

Never take the eyes off the road! Wikitude Drive solves a key problem that all other navigation systems have. These systems require the driver to take his eyes off the road in order to look at the abstract navigation map. Just by looking at the map screen for one second when driving at 100 km/h (62 mph), the driver is actually “blind” for 28 meters (92 ft). Think about how much can happen in those precious meters. Since Wikitude Drive provides you with driving directions on top of the live video stream, you still see what is happening in front of you when looking at the display of your mobile AR navigation system.

Supported Smartphones:

Due to the enormous hardware requirements, Wikitude Drive supportes only a limited number of high-quality Android phones with exceptionally good GPS sensors:

Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus S, HTC Nexus One, HTC Desire, Sony Ericsson X8, Sony Ericsson X10i. See Post “Supported Smartphones”.

If your Android smartphone is not on this list and you absolutely want to try Wikitude Drive, please proceed as follows: Download Wikitude Drive, launch it, enter any destination address, and then, if the route has been loaded, select “ Menu -> demo ride, and you will see an animated demo ride. If the demo looks good, then your phone seems to meet most of Wikitude Drive hardware requirements. If not, you can cancel your purchase within 15 minutes. Note: Some Android devices have GPS sensors that don’t meet the accuracy standards of Wikitude Drive: This is the case if you’re experiencing multiple multiple re-routes while driving with Wikitude Drive. If this happens with your device while driving with Wikitude Drive, you can send an email to drive[at]wikitude.org drive and we will cancel your purchase.

Where do I get Wikitude Drive?

Wikitude Drive is available in the Android Market in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and UK.

Which car holder do you recommend?

A car holder is an absolute necessity for Wikitude Drive, unless you are using it for pedestrian navigation. Make sure the camera has a free view. Sometimes it is necessary to drill a whole for the camera.

Wikitude Drive Success Story

Below you find a quick summary of the Wikitude Drive success story. Happy reading! Cheers.

August 2009: We posted a movie of our first prototype and trigger unintentionally a huge PR wave: The video appeared in major blogs and was viewed 150.000 times that first weekend.

September 2009: At the 2nd Google Android Developer Challenge Wikitude Drive was a top 20 finalist. Unfortunately the routing server crashed within the final jury testing round. However the version from that time was miles away from what you see today.

February 2010: Wikitude Drive wins the Grand Prize at Navteq Challenge 2010 EMEA at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and a check valued 500.000€ in license fees and cash as “most innovative navigation solution in Europe, Middle East and Africa”. The news of Wikitude Drive winning the award was displayed on the Reuters Newswire on Time Square in New York as well as on the Clear Channel Sign in Las Vegas. More on “Wikitude wins the Navteq Challenge 2010!“.  The Insider Story can be read at “Winning the Navteq Challenge 2010 Grand Prize with Wikitude Drive – The Inside Story“.

Mai 20, 2010: We launched a major test drive during Google I/O 2010 and send 3000 test drivers out onto the road. This day marks the record high number of Website hits on the Wikitude site. After 2 hours our server broke down. More here: Wikitude Drive Google I/O Update: Test Drivers Wanted

September 20: 2010: Wikitude Drive won the global competition of the Navteq Challenge in Madrid and is crowned Navteq Global Champion 2010. As the Navteq Challenge 2010 EMEA winners, Wikitude Head of Innovation Andi Hauser, Lead Developer Sebastian Höbarth and me competed against the regional winners India, Asia, North Amerika and South Amerika. We were able to convince a top-class jury and won the global competition as well: See “Wikitude Drive Crowned 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® CHAMPION“.

October 18, 2010: Wikitude Drive won the European Satellite Navigation Competition and the GSA Special Topic Prize in the residence of Munich. See “Wikitude Drive gewinnt den Hauptpreis der European Satellite Navigation Competition Galileo Master 2010“.

November 24, 2010: Wikitude Drive wins Hagenberg Award.

Dezember 6, 2010: Wikitude Drive and the Wikitude World Browser won the World Summit Award in Abu Dhabi. See “Wikitude wins World Summit Award“.

Dezember 20, 2010: Wikitude Drive went live in Austria (T-Mobile), Germany and Switzerland.

May 25, 2011: Latest News – Wikitude Drive went live in UK, France, Italy, and Spain!!!