BMW Group has teamed up with Accenture PLC to develop a new augmented reality app based on Google’s Tango platform to allow customers to see a virtual representation of a customized vehicle.

The app, announced Wednesday, allows customers to configure, customize and walk around a BMW i3 and i8 before they purchase it, so they know exactly what the options they’ve selected will look like. Although that may sound like a somewhat trivial application of AR technology, the company claims that being able to visualize and experience the car prior to purchase assists customers better than a printed list of options or pictures on a computer screen.

“You can list out a car’s features on a sheet of paper or a webpage, but this doesn’t help customers with the emotional side of their decision-making process,” BMW Group Vice President of Sales Strategy and Future Retail Andrea Castronovo explained in a blog post. “To create that emotional connection, people really need to experience a car. Videos can help, but Tango gives people a much more immersive experience.”

For Google, the news is a positive for its nascent Tango augmented reality platform, following the launch of the Tango-compatible Asus ZenFone AR at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Tango allow viewers to see 3D objects in a virtual environment. Support of the platform by device manufacturers has been limited to date. BMW’s practical use of the technology here is a strong demonstration of what it can achieve.

For those interested in giving the new app a go, it will be available in the coming weeks at select BMW dealerships in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Norway, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, China and Japan, with the company intending to make it available for download from Google Play later in the year.

Image courtesy of Google