In an effort to enhance customer uptime by speeding up service work at its dealerships, Peterbilt Motors is rolling out hundreds of augmented reality tools for technicians to use on Peterbilt chassis-specific trucks, giving them expanded visibility into repair work. Called ARTech, the proprietary tools re-conceptualize 2D technical information as full-scale 3D objects, based on CAD models, to help dealer service technicians quickly visualize major truck systems. By the end of March 2022, 200 of the AR tools will be deployed at Peterbilt dealerships.
Peterbilt’s patented software, used in conjunction with Apple iPads tablets, also connect with existing service systems such as Paccar Solutions Service Management, and provide instant access to related technical documentation and diagrams.
“This technology provides technicians a type of x-ray vision to help improve diagnostic and repair times,” said Peyton Harrell, director of dealer development for Peterbilt. “Dealerships who are using ARTech in their service bays have reported a 15 to 20% improvement in service repair times.”
The company stated that they worked with a team of “analysts, visionaries, designers, developers, and architects” to build ARTech, which was then tested at select Peterbilt dealerships. The technology was first revealed at the Paccar Innovation Center in Sunnyvale, California in 2018.
“We analyzed technicians’ pain points and focused on key technologies required to put all of the correct and pertinent data from multiple databases in one single location at their fingertips,” Harrell said.
This allows technicians to become more mobile and flexible.
“Instead of having to carry a laptop, an adapter, and other tools to be able to pull information up on a laptop, now you’re carrying an iPad with all of the information in one convenient location,” said Mike Lacey, western regional product support manager at Ohio Peterbilt. “This has been a huge timesaver in pinpointing and troubleshooting codes and issues, speeding up the process, and getting our customers’ trucks back on the road as quickly as possible.”
Leveraging such technology has afforded many benefits to the technicians, the company, and their customers.
“Our goal is to drive uptime for our customers using a wide variety of technologies, and we can do that with ARTech by empowering technicians who are working on our equipment,” said Jason Skoog, Peterbilt general manager and Paccar vice president. “This technology spans the gap between 2D technical data trapped on paper or on screens and the real vehicle in the service bay. Our ARTech augmented reality tool is giving technicians quick access to the information they need when they need it the most—right next to the truck in the service bay.”
Peterbilt’s announcement is not the first of its kind in the commercial vehicle repair industry, as OEs, fleets, educational institutions, and others have adopted and integrated AR technologies into their practices. In the past year, Penske and Daimler Trucks North America have also delved into the world of 3D repair.
