The automobile industry is facing a lot of competition today because of the fast-changing minds and constant need for upgrades in people’s minds. There are lots of people who would have bought a car today and will still be intrigued by a new feature a company might have added in their new car which the person’s car lacks. This has thus made the automobile companies run a race of innovation and this race can be run faster if the automobile producers make use of remote repair and maintenance techniques. From the thought of an automobile design to the delivery of an actual vehicle to a customer and even the after-sales services, the remote repair and maintenance of the whole process can be a great step towards efficiency and innovation. We all know how Tesla has been able to capture the market because of its innovative approach towards the automobile and how it has been able to make use of the latest technology to deliver the best in the segment they are. But the world has seen a constant decline in the purchase of automobiles over the years and this is major because of the repair and maintenance problems of a vehicle. With lots of vehicles on the road, maintaining one has become hard and this is why people consider public options more feasible. Thus the companies now need to focus more on the use of virtual reality and augmented reality to improve their maintenance and repair from the initial stages itself.

Pre Production Stage

Most people think that it does not require a lot to think about a car design, create the actual vehicle and then sell it. People who sit in the car think that the process requires only one car designer to design the whole car and then the companies to just produce it. In actual life, the whole process has a lot of steps and a lot of people are involved in this. This is why it takes a lot of time for companies to come up with new designs and facelifts for their car models. Even the pre-production stages can thus be benefited from using remote repair and maintenance practices. Firstly maintaining the production units by making sure all the machines and software are up to date and do not have any kind of wear and tear. The virtual simulations of the machinery can be uploaded to a system and the system can thus keep a check on it to report daily maintenance. As per the repair part, experts can be connected with the on-field technicians via visual and audio connections of a wearable device that can project the virtual layers of a unit to be repaired, in front of the experts. This would thus let the experts give proper instructions about the repair and help improve the efficiency. For car design and prototyping, the virtual world is always a cool place to play. Designers can play with their minds by combining various designs and creating virtual prototypes. These virtual prototypes can be tested through augmented reality by projecting the 3D rendered units in the real world. These are some of the few advantages that the pre-production stage of any automobile manufacturer can have.

Automobile sales and after-sales services

Virtual reality has been a great option for the automobile industry in terms of sales. People can experience new products from anywhere wearing headsets and watching the virtually rendered models of a vehicle. This has been a great tool for the automobile industry. As far as the repair and maintenance part goes at this stage, people always ask for how convenient their vehicle services are going to be before purchasing anything. Taking up Tesla again, the company has been able to develop software that makes the car self detect what all repairs it requires, and also suggests the users about when to take it for maintenance. This is all because of the remote repair and maintenance methods that the company is using to ensure better services to their customers. The car software already has a proper manual about how things need to be to function perfectly and if there are any changes, the car detects it and thus assists the user for maintenance. Even the repairs become easier with the use of virtual reality and artificial intelligence. With the mechanics and technicians wearing smart glasses like the ones nowadays Google and Microsoft employees are using for 3D rendering, the servicing and repairs of vehicles can become very easy and efficient. The mechanics can get assistance from experts anywhere around the world just by staying connected through the smart devices and getting the actual vehicle rendered virtually in the virtual world or using augmented reality and projecting the 3D layers of the vehicle for the experts. In short, remote repair and maintenance is a great option for the automobile industry as it helps to gain efficiency and effectiveness.

Remote diagnostics

With thousands of vehicles on the road at the same time in a city itself, it can be said that it is best if the owners had all car stats in front of them all the time. Remote diagnostics is a technology that can be embedded into vehicles to make sure that the vehicle is monitored in real-time. Suppose a truck is on the highway, carrying a large load, what if there is a spark in the wiring of the truck and the truck may catch fire. All of this can be controlled if the truck was diagnosed all the time by the software embedded in it that constantly compares the truck to normal conditions of virtually correct model of the same truck. This way the vehicle owner or the driver would have data about the status of the vehicle’s health at all times and thus may be able to avoid any kind of mishap. Remote diagnostics is thus a technology that would prove highly beneficial for the repair and maintenance of the automobile sector.

Remote Programming, a tool for maintenance

With the automobile department evolving at a great speed, a lot of companies have found a great way to help the customers deal with repair and maintenance of the vehicle perfectly. Remote Programming is a great way for the vehicles to be able to repair on their own. Various devices that can make the necessary changes to a vehicle for making sure it stays in perfect condition are now being installed in them. The automobile company Volvo has been adding telematics to their trucks to ensure that even if the trucks are exported to various nations, they can have the right repair and maintenance that the trucks in parent nation would have. Remote programming generally involves the repair and maintenance through over-the-air updates and changes. Since most of the functions in a vehicle are electronically controlled via ESUs in it, the telematics in a vehicle can be updated from time to time to make sure that all the electronics work perfectly and thus the vehicle stays in perfect health. These over-the-air updates generally include the repair sequences for any kind of internal wear and tear in the ESU of the vehicle and also make changes to the software of the vehicle if there is any requirement. As for the maintenance part, the OTA updates check for all kinds of maintenance required over the vehicle and if there is something that needs to be done manually, the vehicle owner is prompted to do it. With remote programming, the vehicles stay connected with the parent organization and thus the experts from there can contribute to any kind of repair and maintenance of the vehicle even if the actual vehicle is on the other end of the world.

Summary

The whole world is moving forward with various technologies and this is why the automobile industry has needed the changes too. With the involvement of virtual reality and augmented reality in the repair and maintenance of automobiles, there is much more efficiency and cost-effectiveness involved in it. Now the car owners do not have to rush to the nearby service center whenever their car has a cold start problem. The systems embedded in the car itself can prompt various repair alerts and maintenance alerts if there are any. Even the car experts and technicians can stay connected visually and via audio through augmented reality and help each other in the maintenance or repair procedures. Companies have started inventing various new technologies to make use of VR and AR in the repair and maintenance procedures. The automobile industry already has a lot of competition and this is why the companies are trying harder to keep inventing better ways to provide customer services. Companies like Volvo and Tesla have been acing with such new technologies and this is where other companies need to cover up. Thus it can be summarized that the whole automobile industry can have a lot of advantages using remote repair and maintenance practices. These practices are a great change for the whole industry and can change the whole world’s perspective towards the said ‘repair and maintenance.’