July_2021 - 22

Considerations for AR and VR adoption
Taking on new technologies can
be daunting. There are going to
be questions up front. Not only
do those in the industry want to
understand what this technology
is, but they want to understand
the steps it will take during the
research and implementation process
to reach successful technological
adoption and integration.
Technology providers understand
the apprehension and provide
guidance, insight, best practices,
and questions to consider when
selecting the right solution.
HEADSETS, MOBILE
DEVICES, OR BOTH?
" The goal would be any device, anywhere,
anytime, " said Matt Johnston,
division head of commercial solutions,
Design Interactive. " We know
that the cost of the headsets, over
time, are going to come down. There
is a healthy skepticism about the
technology because of the perception
that it might be time consuming
to create or costly to adopt. "
Though, Johnston said, because of
the advancements in augmented
reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)
offerings, fleets have flexibility in
where they want to start.
" When it comes to mobile devices,
it is just a reality. Everybody has
one in their pocket, for the most
part, " Johnston stated. " So, we've
made it available on mobile devices,
and I think that it is going to
be a healthy mix medium-term.
Long-term, I do believe the technicians
are going to have headsets.
I think companies are going to see
the value in hands-free heads-up
information, being able to connect
directly to the experts, et cetera.
It is easier to fix the truck when
you're not holding a phone ... but
there is an investment of time,
money, people, resources, in order
to get that started. "
Johnston is the chairman for the
Task Force for Augmented and
Virtual Reality Training for the
American Trucking Associations'
(ATA) Technology & Maintenance
Council (TMC) Future Truck
Committee. He said the primary
goal of the task force, at this stage,
is educating the industry on what
the technology is, what it can do,
and to answer the questions fleets
have regarding adopting AR and VR.
Johnston noted that the task force
is in the process of developing
a list of AR/VR best practices. If
a technician does not charge a
device after use, for instance, the
technician coming in on the next
shift has an uncharged device that
is not usable. Charging stations,
quantity of devices, the number
of technicians across a number of
shifts, and the number of bays in
operation are all considerations to
keep in mind.
HOW HARD IS IT TO
USE AR OR VR?
" We pride ourselves on how easy
the system is to use, " Johnston
said of Design Interactive's
AUGMENTOR, an AR-enhanced
training platform. " Given the newness
of this technology, we wanted
to make sure there were no special
skills required, no coding. You
simply have to show up and use the
skills you've used elsewhere. "
Whether AR or VR, service providers
strive to present a technology
that is intuitive and can be seamlessly
integrated.
" We have seen it used with people
as old as 60, " said Bharani
Rajakumar, CEO and founder of
TRANSFR, of the use of the company's
VR training facility service.
" There is no question that the
younger generation that has grown
up with joysticks and video game
controllers pick it up much faster,
but you're talking about the difference
between picking it up in under
a minute versus picking it up with a
five-minute explanation. So, it is not
a huge barrier. "
WHAT IS THE ROI?
Training technicians is a major
endeavor but using AR or VR can
help to ease that strain, especially
across multiple locations.
" Fleets are typically characterized
by having a centralized headquarters,
possibly having a training
department, but technicians are
at facilities spread across multiple
states, " Johnston posed. " It's very
difficult, time-consuming, and
costly to bring them all centrally
to train or send experts out to
them. Classroom XR [a feature of
AUGMENTOR] allows fleets to provide
instructor-led training at a distance
by using augmented reality. "
Understanding that not every
business is ready to bring on many
devices is the reason for solutions
like AUGMENTOR's Classroom XR,
which allows training to be disseminated
throughout an organization
through an instructor. Use one
device to train the trainer and have
that person be the champion of the
technology, Johnston suggested.
" Then, we can work with that
organization as a partner to walk
them, over time, to that bigger
deployment, " he said. " By that time,
the devices are more accessible,
easy to use, probably less expensive,
and you've now got a couple
of years under your belt of using it
with a high ROI. "
WHERE TO START AND
WHAT ISSUES TO TACKLE
" We provide best practices in terms
of how to create the content. That's
usually step one-making sure that
people who are used to actually fixing
things and educating others on
how to fix things know how to now
do that effectively in the technology
that we've got, " Johnston explained
of Design Interactive's approach to
AR technology adoption.
Johnston said fleets will typically
address needs presented through
data. If a fleet sees a spike in fault
codes associated with brakes, the
initial training deployment will
tackle that issue. Design Interactive
coaches users on how to use the
software and provides feedback on
those materials.
" Then, based on the type of company
and how you're structured, [we
ask] 'Do you have a training department?
How large is your organization?'
We look at whether instructor
versus self-guided is appropriate,
or both, " Johnston explained of
AUGMENTOR deployment.
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July_2021

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