Dakar 2021 Is Coming To Your Phone In Augmented Reality

Rider Cesare Zacchetti is taking anyone using the tabUI app along for the ride.

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Dec 29, 2020 at 4:22pm ET

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Do you know what you’re doing on January 3, 2021? That’s the day the 2021 Dakar Rally starts—and even if you didn’t think you could be there, we have a surprise for you. Thanks to the efforts of the app developers behind tabUI, you can experience Dakar 2021 via augmented reality from the comfort and safety of anywhere your compatible device operates.

TabUI was originally developed to encourage tourists to explore all that the Piedmont region of northern Italy has to offer. However, as tabUI CEO Giorgio Proglio explained, offering a Dakar experience seemed like a great way to showcase the app, and also introduce a potentially huge audience to it.

Piedmontese rider Cesare Zacchetti will be providing the ride-along for all of us checking out the AR scene via tabUI during Dakar. The tabUI app is available for both Android and iOS devices as a free download. Please note that the user interface is in Italian, although navigating to the Dakar event listing is fairly straightforward even if you don’t speak the language.

The route for the 2021 Dakar Rally is 7,646 kilometers, divided over 12 stages. Zacchetti will also be taking questions from tabUI users, and the plan is that he’ll answer the best ones in videos posted later on during the event. You can also follow Zachetti on his Facebook for even more insight into the event.

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We can’t say what the experience will be like, but here’s hoping it goes as well as tabUI is obviously hoping. Also, I don’t know about you, but I can definitely think of much worse ways to ring in a new year than checking out a Dakar rider onboard. If you don’t already have your snacks ready, you have a few days to get your noms in order.

Photo: Cesare Zacchetti on Facebook