Mercedes digital owners manual enables augmented reality customer support
Modern cars have dashboards full of new features and technology. With how quickly companies are innovating their vehicles, new users can have difficulty understanding and utilizing the functionalities. Printed user manuals take time to read and don’t offer the information in context to the dashboard, making it hard to translate written or visual instructions from paper to the physical car. Often, many customers or potential buyers are interested in specific features in the car and will have to flip through an entire manual before getting what they’re looking for.
By using Vuforia Engine, Mercedes-Benz wanted to make understanding and using their cars’ advanced features easier for their customers. The automotive industry is also extremely competitive, so offering customers an innovative way to learn about their vehicles through augmented reality customer support could help differentiate them.
Mercedes digital owners manual enables contextual user interface
Mercedes-Benz worked with PTC to create the Ask Mercedes digital owners manual application. This free mobile app is used as a product companion for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and S-class sedan and enables customers to explore their car either via a chat bot or through augmented reality. This is done by offering a more contextual user interface that allows the customer to simply point their mobile device to the dashboard’s panels to find out how to use them.
Vuforia Engine was selected for this application. It uses a 3D model based on the car’s dashboard for recognition and overlays information once initialized. No outside markers needed to be added to the Mercedes dashboards.
Augmented reality customer support puts information in context
The augmented reality customer support application is now used by both customers and sales associates in their dealership locations. Owners and potential buyers can easily understand the car’s advanced features by having the information readily available and in context. Augmented reality helped Mercedes-Benz increase their brand value through this innovative application and the superior user experience it provided. It also allows the Ask Mercedes team to understand which features are most important to drivers and follow through with improved instructions.