Taken from an article that appeared on Mobile AR.  The same approach to augmented reality that some companies use to improve workforce productivity could also make it easier for car owners to operate and maintain their vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz is driving down that new path by releasing an augmented reality owner’s manual called Ask Mercedes for iPhones and iPads.

The app uses image recognition to align the user’s device with the interior of a 2018 E-Class Mercedes-Benz and AR beacons to identify various features. The app then provides additional information about selected features, including video tutorials.

“We are creating a personalized customer experience that goes well beyond the vehicle,” said Britta Seeger, a Daimler AG/Mercedes-Benz marketing executive. “With innovative services such as ‘Ask Mercedes,’ we are further expanding our digital ecosystem.”

While the app is currently only available for iOS in the US, a company spokesperson revealed that an Android version will follow early next year. The app is also scheduled to launch in Malaysia before the end of 2017, and in India and Hong Kong by early 2018, with a version in German expected to follow soon thereafter.

Genesis at Hyundai, also released a virtual guide earlier this year.  There are many ways in which AR is being used in the automotive industry. Why not take a look at The AREA case studies for further examples?

Congratulations go to AREA member Atheer for their work with Porsche. As stated on the Atheer website:

This week’s announcement by Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA) of “Tech Live Look,” an Augmented Reality (AR) technology designed to improve technical services at Porsche dealerships in the United States, is making an impact.

“Tech Live Look” uses Atheer’s AiR Enterprise – and it has gained the attention of the business press as well as automotive and augmented reality media.

Atheer has rounded up the best of how this has been reported on the internet and by the media. See the full round up on their blog here.

Key takeaways are below:

• Instead of a dealership employee being forced to contact the team about troubleshooting issues by way of phone and email, Tech Live Look allows both parties to view the car simultaneously together in real time
• Hoping to shorten diagnostic times, Porsche has developed a system to help factory engineers see what dealer technicians are seeing even from thousands of miles away.
• Next year, the sports car importer will deploy Atheer AiR Enterprise AR software to its US dealerships under the name Tech Live Look

In a visionary piece on Forbes, Jay Samit, Independent Vice Chairman at Deloitte, discusses AR and its power to revolutionize customer experience in every industry.

Technology has changed and improved the customer experience over time, but the most recent transformation with the growth of augmented reality is sure to lead to greater change than ever before.

AR in enterprise

As more businesses become aware of AR’s potential to transform customer experience, AR becomes pushed in front of a larger audience of business decision makers who can potentially start to learn more about the ways in which AR can make business transformation internally, with cost savings and productivity efficiencies.

If you’re looking for ways in which AR can help with a variety of operations within the business, take a look at our resources section of our website, and a variety of use cases from a range of industries.

From Forbes – AR transformation for customers

Our modern world has connected us with devices like smartphones, which puts a world of possibility right in our pockets. But even with smartphones we still have to search for answers. Instead of customers having to seek out information, that knowledge can now be embedded in the environment in a way that anticipate customers’ needs and helps them find solutions where they already are.

The author invites us to imagine a world where you can wear glasses that look just like normal glasses but that have AR technology that can be customized to match your lifestyle and provide the most applicable information.

According to Jay, these glasses are right around the corner and will make it much easier to incorporate AR. Instead of getting lost in a store, AR could light up a path on the ground to get you to the item you need.  Other credible examples are given of AR’s potential to revolutionize the way they bring products and services to market.

Augmented reality is immersive learning that hits customers at a different level. It is the extra things that anticipate needs, improve problems, and make interactions with customers just a little bit better. AR is being able to get what you need when you need it and creating seamless experiences that make life easier, more efficient, or more enjoyable.

BrainXChange is an AREA member who you may know as the organisers of the EWTS events (see here for the next one). They also have a great Enterprise Wear blog which is worth keeping an eye on if you’re interested in new technology wearables for the enterprise.

In one of their November blogs the following topics are discussed:

• See the video, where Picavi’s Johanna Bellenberg talks about head-worn devices with the very people implementing the technology at Walmart, GE Transportation, Gensler, USPS, and FM Global
• AR/VR is helping the Postal Service meet the demands of a changing digital world
• Postal Service also using AR/VR for vehicle maintenance and to eliminate 50% of training time for new employees.
• Walmart is using VR at its training academies to simulate exceptional customer experience problems
• FM Global, a commercial property risk insurer that counts one out of every three Fortune 1000 companies as a customer, is using AR for remote engineering surveys of client facilities and VR as a selling tool.
• GE Transportation is using AR/VR to design and build kits of locomotive parts for operators, thinking through the presentation of these kits and how they align to manufacturing or service processes.
• From a plant layout perspective, VR is also incredibly useful for designing and planning operations.
• At Gensler, visualization technologies are impacting how architects design and develop structures of every kind. The architecture and design firm is also considering how these tools will impact the places it designs as those buildings and environments mature.

You can read BrainXChange’s member profile here.

The Government’s Industrial Strategy White Paper, published today, has confirmed £33m* immersive technology focusing on a challenge on Audience of the Future, focusing on virtual, augmented and mixed reality and how it is changing the way in which we experience the world around us – from entertainment and art to shops and classrooms.

The challenge is set to bring creative businesses, researchers and technologists together through a combination of complimentary R&D activities which will explore the future of creative content across the UK Creative Industries, including TV and film, games, music, sports entertainment, arts & culture and fashion.

This investment is designed to capture new global audiences and grow our leading market position in creative content, products and services by adopting, exploiting and developing immersive technologies.

Immerse UK will be supporting the development of a final business case through continued industry consultations and more information on the programme structure will be announced within the next few weeks.

For more information please visit Immerse.org.uk.

Global MRO ST Aerospace is looking at Augmented Reality technology to aid its maintenance activities, says an article on MRO Network.  Augmented, or mixed reality technologies let users see the objects actually before them, along with virtual images, instructions, notes and other data that may help them. The tools are being developed rapidly and are seen a possibly of great use in aircraft maintenance in two basic ways.

First, augmented reality could be used to train mechanics as they work on real components with instructors showing virtual images that aid in training.

Second, mechanics working on repair challenges in locations remote from the engineers who are experts on the challenge could benefit from visual help provided by these experts. At the same time, expert engineers can see what the on-site mechanics are seeing.

Jeffrey Lam, Chief Operating Officer of global MRO ST Aerospace, says his firm, with operations far-flung over the globe, is looking at augmented reality to help with maintenance. And Lam says ST Aerospace is considering the technology, “both for training and supporting mechanics in remote locations.”

Several vendors are offering the computerized goggles necessary to implement augmented reality, and of course software must be purpose-built to support aircraft maintenance applications. Lam says ST Aerospace is currently looking for a suitable hardware. However, he adds that it is “also developing the software at the same time.”

Lam estimates it “will take at least another two to three years before more providers start taking up augmented reality as part of their operational tools.” He predicts it will be, “at least five years or more before augmented reality becomes common in the aircraft maintenance industry.”

To read more about our use cases in industry please see our resources page.

PTC has unveiled a reality lab that will advance the adoption and exploration of augmented reality technologies.  A press release today announced the unveiling of Reality Lab, a test center led by researchers who will create applications that leverage augmented, virtual, mixed, and physical realities with the purpose of improving people’s interactions with their physical environments. The lab will apply human-centered design and human-computer interaction to new technology, empowering people with more intuitive and practical computer user interfaces for managing the next generation of networked computer systems.

An early believer in the potential of AR for industrial use cases, PTC acquired the industry’s most advanced and widely adopted Vuforia^® AR technology platform for custom development in 2015. Since then, PTC has leveraged Vuforia to expand the capabilities of its market-leading ThingWorx^® Industrial Innovation Platform. Building on its proven history in helping customers optimize their product design, manufacturing, and service initiatives, PTC is helping to bring the power of AR technology to these traditional business activities with the ability to visualize, instruct, guide, and improve interactions with physical things.

Full details from their press release can be found here.

A new survey by enterprise resource planning and MRO software provider IFS has found that unplanned maintenance is the biggest challenge to maintaining aircraft operations, and maintenance managers see augmented reality technology as very useful in meeting this challenge.

The survey asked for the views of 150 aviation professionals. Nearly 60% of the organizations surveyed cited the availability of aircraft for operations as the industry’s biggest challenge. Nearly half of those surveyed said unplanned maintenance and regulatory compliance were their key priorities

Over three quarters, or 77%, of companies surveyed believed augmented reality tools could reduce the damage unplanned maintenance does by providing remote support to technicians and providing one-to-many knowledge transfer from repair experts to working mechanics.

The survey also looked at other technologies. Survey respondents ranked automation, big data, robotics, augmented reality and the Internet of Things as the top-five disruptive technologies.

The Internet of Things was viewed as a priority area for investment by 39% of firms, big data analytics by 39%, artificial intelligence by 37%, enterprise resource planning by 33% and mobile computing and applications by 31%

Of the commercial aviation companies surveyed, 44% said they were advanced in digital transformation, a higher portion than most other industries. Only 7% saw themselves as still exploring digital transformation, with about half having achieved enablement and a third having IT deliver digitally enabled services continuously. A smaller share, 11%, see themselves as optimized around digital transformation as a primary strategic focus at executive levels.

According to survey respondents, the top barriers to moving forward on digital transformation were, in descending order of importance, security concerns, aversion to changes, regulations, the wrong organizational model and inadequate ROI.

The full article can be read here.

The solution, which combines Upskill’s Skylight AR platform on Google Glass with a smart wrench, enables mechanics to perfect the tightening of B-nuts.  This is a process that can be universally replicated in many different manufacturing and maintenance settings.

What was particularly compelling about this use case for GE was the potential impact Skylight on smart glasses could have on reducing errors: a cost savings well into the millions annually.  The pilot also drove an average boost in worker efficiency between 8 and 12 percent.

With Skylight displayed right in their line-of-sight, GE mechanics:

• Received guided instructions on how to perform engine assembly and maintenance tasks
• Tracked and confirmed real-time torque values provided by their smart wrenches
• Used voice commands to move through steps and collaborate with other team members
• Streamed their point of view through a live video connection to get help while troubleshooting

“This has tremendous potential to minimize errors, cut down on costs and improve product quality”, said Ted Robertson, Engineering Manager at GE Aviation. Upskill’s AREA member profile can be read here.

An article on VR Focus discusses Electrolux’s investment in Augmented Reality. The technology company has begun to manufacture AR smart glasses and related software at sixteen factories in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

The mobile application, Tempestive Reamplia, works alongside AR smart glasses to enable remote collaboration between field experts and on-site engineers. This increases the efficiency of troubleshooting by providing visual instructions without requiring a site visit. Updated instructions, technical documentation, and annotated images can also be transferred using this system.

Carsten Franke, SVP Industrial Operations at Major Appliances EMEA, is quoted to have said that using AR technology and digitising enterprises is rapidly changing the workplace, allowing for quicker and easier problem solutions, competitive advantages, and reduced costs.

The article concludes by mentioning the significant influence of AR on industry and enterprise, in sectors such as retail, automotive, construction, and design.