In today’s technology-driven world, augmented reality is radiating everywhere as businesses across all industry verticals are shining in their own areas of expertise by leveraging this sophisticated real-time piece of advancement. Nowadays, vehicles are becoming extremely smart that users don’t even need to search for the manual of their car to figure out how a particular feature operates.
Let us now look at some of the notable ways in which augmented reality is used in the automotive sector.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality refers to an interactive experience of a real-world environment where objects present in the real-world are enhanced through computer-generated perceptual information. The overlaid sensory information is seamlessly interwoven with the physical world where it is perceived as an aspect of the real environment.
Augmented reality deals with altering the perception of the real-world environment. Using advanced AR technologies, the information present in the surrounding world of the user are subject to interaction and digital manipulation. One needs to wear special goggles to understand and visualize the finished project even before its completion.
Augmented Reality in the Automotive Industry
Some of the ways in which augmented reality is used in the automotive industry are:
1. Planning of Production Plants
Augmented reality can be used to save a considerable amount of time and money while planning production capacities. Using augmented reality, new machines and buildings can be incorporated into existing production halls. It is possible to simulate and optimize production processes, and material flows virtually in four dimensions. For example, it is not necessary for experts to travel to an existing plant to plan its expansion. This can be done from their desk with the help of AR, and other experts can also be invited if needed.
2. New Product Development
The ability of augmented reality to combine digital content with reality has made it much easier to create new models, especially in the field of automotive engineering. Due to the introduction of AR, we no longer need to produce new variants or models by hand. AR makes it possible to display different models, shapes, and colors. At Mercedes, employees can integrate various engine variants virtually into a chassis. This shows if an engine that is yet to be designed will also fit into the engine compartment of an existing vehicle. This helps save time and development costs.
3. Quality improvement and Assurance
As AR can display workflows, tutorials, and individual production steps both in context and in multimedia, new employees can be trained in a faster and efficient manner rather than using the traditional, document-based method. Knowledge of the workforce can be easily distributed using telepresence. This means that one employee can assist another employee in solving a problem. The reasons for this are that he is directly present in front of the workpiece and has the same image on his screen with the help of his colleague’s data glasses. The helper can now project additional information and concrete instructions through the data glasses and can thus virtually take him by hand. As AR is also helpful in tracking deviations in production processes, errors can be detected and rectified more easily and quickly.
4. Faster After-Sales Service and Easier Maintenance
AR provides contextual guidance, as it makes individual work steps easier. Easy tasks such as oil change can be done by the user himself instead of driving to the workshop. AR can also be helpful to the mechanics in the workshop. To make a note of the defective parts in a particular color, the employee points the camera of a tablet at the engine. The number of parts that need to be replaced is also displayed on the screen. AR then aids the mechanic by displaying content-related installation instructions.
Conclusion
The future of the automobile industry belongs to transportation vehicles and self-driving cars. By using technologies such as machine learning and augmented reality, companies have successfully demonstrated trials of autonomous vehicles. There are numerous companies worldwide that are fuelling innovation by integrating augmented reality into their vehicles. This is mainly because augmented reality is one of the most promising technologies in the present era.
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