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Remember when virtual reality was the hottest concept on the tech block? These days, augmented reality has become the new go-to fad for future tech talk, and even BMW is getting in on the action. Researchers for the German automobile manufacturer have developed a pair of augmented reality glasses designed to "assist BMW Service staff in their highly demanding technical work."
We'll admit the concept seems cool enough, but there's also something unsettling about a mechanic donning a pair of augmented tech-specs and being fed step-by-step instructions as he pokes around under the hood. We'd feel the same way if we spied a 'Car Repair for Dummies' book sitting in the Service center garage.
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JohnP
September 07, 2009 at 7:11pm
I remember seeing the same thing years ago for airlines and NASA. You can "see" under things like panels and other gear. As for "working on something complicated without training", you can forget about it. I worked for Agilent Technologies (Test andMeasurement spinoff of HP) as "high level remote repairman". What 4 of us did nationwide was to use a untrained third party to try to repair and calibrate all of our expensive and complicated equipment. On the phone. The "technician" would show up and immediately call us. He/she would then try to repair a $200,000 microwave antenna test system, say, with us coaching them. What a fiasco. Multi repeat visits, pissed off customers and broken calibration gear abounded. Lasted far too long before my boss was fired and we went back to Agilent technicians that were factory trained. Some things just CANNOT be outsourced.
Boundless
September 07, 2009 at 1:19pm
As an Auto Service Technician I am quite happy that I am not in a BMW dealership. My simple little Korean manufacturer just came out with Bluetooth as a feature - we are so far behind the times I'll never see this technology in my shop. I can't imagine the cost invested in it (and subsequently charged to the dealerships) will justify the time savings in the shop.
I suppose one advantage would be that you could take any Joe Blow off the street, give him the glasses and a tool box and he could call himself a Mechanic. Up here in (most of) Canada it is a four year, 7000+ hour program just to meet the minimum requirements for Journeyman. There is then years of manufacture-specific on-the-job training to complete.
Many automotive repairs require so much more than a step-by-step approach to a simple solution that these glasses would be useless in a majority of applications. I can see them being a great idea for simple maintenance - but after you find the oil filter the first time, how many times do you need to be told where it is?
Maverick828
September 07, 2009 at 9:56am
I would have to say, it looks interesting. Maybe it would be good for some things but I agree that it would kind of worry me that the mechanic might not be as well trained. Hope they dont use it as an excuse to not train people, "Oh here, you dont need training, just use these." But the Tool Information aspect would probably let them save time since it appears that it can tell them exactly what size of a specific tool they need for that particular screw or bolt instead of guessing at a random size.
