With the looming technician shortage, AI-powered smart glasses may be the key to helping independent shops and trade schools accelerate onboarding and maximize productivity.
The automotive industry has had to get used to change, whether that's shifts in emissions systems, new vehicle designs, or countless computers affecting just about every inch of a modern vehicle.
One of the few things that hasn't changed over the last several years is the shortage of capable technicians. The industry is facing an impending shortage of over 640,000 technicians across the automotive, diesel, and collision segments, according to the TechForce Foundation, and the gap seems to grow day by day. Traditional instructor-led testing is essentially impossible to scale to meet the level of need from both the industry and prospective students. This is where Skillmaker.ai and NAPA step in with a pair of virtual reality goggles.
From Goggles to Glasses to Graduate
The companies have put together a program with 53 immersive lessons that serve as accelerated training sessions, and students can take their G1, A4, or A5 certifications after completing the in-goggles training. They can reset simulations, repeat lessons, and put in time "under the hood" without any risk of damage to a vehicle. From there, they can use augmented reality glasses to continue to train, learn, and evaluate their competencies thanks to the AI software within the goggles and glasses.
The AI-powered software functions as far more than what's typically thought of as "artificial intelligence." Robin Cowie, founder of Skillmaker.ai, specifically set out to develop a model that would prepare students for joining the automotive industry. Thanks to a direct integration with Solera and Identifix, it pulls directly from a specialized database of over 3 million proven fixes to give technicians specific, real-world guidance directly within their eyeline.
"The worst version of this is somebody using their free AI service, where you're going to get hallucinations all over the place. We set out to make a professional tool that works for professionals by not having any hallucinations, by being context aware, and by specifically orienting itself to serve the technician," Cowie says.
How Teachers and Students Benefit
One of the overwhelming tasks an instructor faces is tailoring the content for their students. While it might be easy for a one-on-one session, the reality is that there's far, far more data for each student than any one person could handle. This is one of the natural places to implement AI, which starts building specific user profiles to best serve that user's specific needs.
"We use AI to listen and answer in a specific way," Cowie says. "We have all these rich database situations, but whether you're a service advisor, a C-tech, a B-tech, an A-tech, or a specialist, we want to process all that information in the exact way you need those questions answered."
The technology frees up instructors from repeatedly answering the basic, foundational questions that all students have in favor of spending more time on personalized or complicated material. It can also be applied to just about any level of experience in the shop. Even the most experienced technician can use the glasses to speed up their workflow and up their productivity.
"The running joke in every shop is, 'Where did I put my 10-millimeter?' If we can get the glasses to help check things off—like saying, 'Hey, I'm about to finish this job, let's make sure I did all of these steps'—it can check in and confirm you're good to go. That makes the shop safer, allows you to work faster, and frees up time to focus on the details that really count."
Balancing the Needs of the Future
As artificial intelligence continues to develop and be refined, the industry has to adapt with it. The ASE Education Foundation has to balance the needs of the industry with the latest developments in technology, all while maintaining the rigorous standards necessary to keep technicians and drivers safe.
"They can't lower their standards at all because we all want the standards to be as high as possible," Cowie says, "but they also have to make the pathway clearer, faster, and more responsive."
To further illustrate that point, NAPA and Skillmaker.ai are bringing 12 students and two instructors from Collin College to the ASE Instructor Conference for live, hands-on demonstrations. Skillmaker.ai even recruited diagnostic legend and veteran instructor Scott Brown as an industry ambassador.
This isn't the first and certainly won't be the last seemingly sudden change that causes the industry to reevaluate itself. Much like how shops had to grapple with the transition to R-1234yf refrigerant or are currently navigating electric vehicle and ADAS services, the sooner shops adapt, the better off they'll be. The next generation of technicians won't shy away from the latest technologies, so shops shouldn't either—attracting these students and technicians will be the key to thriving in the not-so-distant future.
