Fixing a car is not easy, especially when it comes to cars that have been released in more recent years: they’re more complex than ever. So it’s understandable that technicians now have a harder job to accomplish on the daily.
But, as we’re making our cars more high-tech, our technicians should follow suit too and it looks like BMW is spearheading that effort.
BMW’s technicians at the BMW and Mini North American branches have now been given access to smart glasses (Augmented Reality glasses, if you want to be technical) that will help them with maintenance and repair work in order to further improve the company’s customer service.
It’s not just customer service that BMW has in mind though, even if the company has historically always put the customer first: implementing new technologies will also better support both its current and future technicians.
“Vehicle technology is becoming more complex, which only highlights the need for excellent technicians,” Neal Guthrie, department head for technical service, BMW of North America has said. “Hiring top technicians and providing them with the best possible systems and tools with which to work, will be critical to our success.”
The system has employed the use of industry-leading components such as Realwear HMT-1 Smart Glasses and Ubimax Augmented Reality Software.
The new technology, dubbed TSARAVision, will allow the technicians to access repair documents they might need as well as send and receive files.
The technicians will also be able to start a video link with a BMW or Mini engineer who will help them out if the repair or maintenance work is more complex than expected.
The two will be able to share schematics and technical bulletins without lifting a finger and, thanks to the glasses the engineers will also be able to zoom in on a problematic area and offer the technician advice or instructions in real time.
BMW expects that, with the help of TSARAVision, repair and maintenance processes will see an increase in speed by 70 to 75%.
“TSARAVision Smart Glasses are great examples of how we are applying new technologies to help BMW technicians work more efficiently and further our commitment to offer the best possible service experience for BMW customers,” Claus Eberhart, Vice President, Aftersales for BMW of North America said in a press release. “By solving issues faster, BMW dealers can get customers back into their cars sooner.”
The new technology will be in use at all 347 BMW Centers and MINI Dealers in the U.S by the end of June.
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