A new mobile application from Inglobe Technologies turns a smartphone into an interactive guide.
Though not yet on the market, Inglobe Technologies has developed a unique smartphone app that has the potential to revolutionize the driver’s experience when small repairs or basic maintenance is required.
The application provides the vehicle owner with instructions for a number of different tasks.
The augmented reality app is designed to allow the user to look through the screen of the smartphone and see the engine of his or her own car, with its main components clearly labeled and with steps to guide him or her though various maintenance tasks, such as checking or changing oil.
This augmented reality development could revolutionize the experience of having a car break down.
Instead of being left entirely bewildered on the side of the road, the augmented reality features of the app could show drivers how to go about fixing minor problems. They could also improve the way that they maintain their vehicles, simply because they will be able to accomplish a number of smaller tasks without having to bring it to the mechanic. This could potentially reduce the risk of a break down by the vehicle.
The components of an engine are labeled by the augmented reality app in real time. Moreover, it provides animations of how and where to check the oil and top up fluid levels. That said, it isn’t involved to the degree that it could be used for rebuilding an engine. The purpose of the app is not to replace a good mechanic.
Instead, it gives drivers a boost in their knowledge and in their confidence regarding a number of the tasks that they could do themselves, provided that they know where to find the right components of the engine, and that they learn the steps that need to be followed.
Augmented reality provides a considerable advantage over the user’s manual of the vehicle – or even step by step instructions written in text with images. It eliminates the need to “visualize”, as it demonstrates the process using the vehicle’s own engine, directly in front of the user.
Forrester Research has just released a study that suggests that it is tablet commerce that is paving the way to the future and that these devices may replace smartphones when it comes to searching for products and actually purchasing them. Their data showed that 30 percent of American tablet owners use those devices for shopping purposes.