When you’re creating a totally new kind of Ford, it helps if the guys and girls who’ll be tasked with keeping it running have a hand in how everything turns out. In this case, the vehicle is Ford’s forthcoming, gigantically hyped all-electric Mustang Mach-E, and the people are the line technicians at the nation’s Ford dealerships who will be tasked with keeping the Mach-E percolating. To that end, Ford and Robert Bosch GmbH have co-created a new virtual reality training tool to learn troubleshooting and service procedures in time for the new crossover to go on sale later this year.
The VR initiative will allow Ford mechanics to learn service procedures and steps for a Mustang Mach-E without having access to an actual vehicle. The technology borrows from simulation and gaming, an uses Oculus Quest VR headsets designed and created by Facebook. Bosch, the German automotive technology giant, began research last year into the use of VR in automotive service training; the Ford Motor Company is the first automaker to use the system in training dealer service techs. The system will allow technicians to perform diagnostic and service tasks using the Oculus Quest headset, including removal, installation and repair of the Mach-E’s main battery pack. Bosch is also developing VR “modules” that will allow technicians to enter virtual rooms, each of which houses a specific area of the vehicle’s mechanics and/or software. Interested? Want to get in the game? You can still go online and reserve your own Mach-E online by clicking here.
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