M-B Develops Virtual Remote Technician Support Solution with Microsoft

Mercedes-Benz USA has developed a “mixed reality” automotive maintenance support system with Microsoft that is designed to allow onsite dealership technicians to work handsfree while sharing real-time views and sounds of vehicles being serviced while talking with Mercedes-Benz technical specialists. 

Mercedes-Benz Virtual Remote Support, powered by HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, is designed to allow Mercedes-Benz authorized dealerships to collaborate with its specialists anywhere in the world to solve complex maintenance issues often within minutes and hours as compared to days. These remote MB specialists can provide valuable insight and technological guidance to help complete complex maintenance issues in record time, without ever leaving their office.

"This is a massive shift in the way we do business – helping us to serve our customers more quickly –  and is especially timely with the new realities of COVID-19 and our desire to keep employees safe," said Christian Treiber, Vice President of Customer Services at MBUSA. "Today's vehicles feature more than 100 million lines of software code. Through our partnership with Microsoft, we have a new paradigm for technology support and communication that helps our dealers and technicians master the complexity of these vehicles while eliminating travel time and onsite visits."

The Mercedes-Benz Virtual Remote Support includes:

• Enhances customers' experience by providing faster service turnaround
• Decreases the time it takes to resolve maintenance questions increasing the productivity and efficiency of dealer technicians
• In times of COVID-19, it creates a remote work environment without eliminating the important collaboration between remote and onsite technical experts
• Reduces the environmental impact of service-related travel

"I'm thrilled by the transformation made possible by our partnership with Mercedes-Benz USA. By leveraging HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, Mercedes-Benz USA has seen rapid time to value, moving from proof of concept to broad deployment in a matter of months," said Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications and Global Industry Marketing, Microsoft. 

Leveraging Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, the remote specialist can see exactly what the technician is seeing at the dealership. Working in a mixed reality environment, it is an immersive experience where they both can view intricate 3D images and holograms, see where changes need to be made, annotate the visual information, add documents, insert arrows, circles and more all to highlight areas on which to focus.

Mercedes-Benz Virtual Remote Support was recently rolled out to all 383 dealerships across the U.S. to great applause. And this is just the beginning. Mercedes-Benz has always been at the forefront of technology that propels the automotive industry and views this service as the foundation for future opportunities by which to coach and train technicians.