Volkswagon Unveils MARTA Augmented Reality Service Support App [Video]

Volkswagon has announced MARTA, an augmented reality service support system that uses the iPad to help technicians service their new X1 concept car.

Using the previous approach, the service technician could only call up digital repair guidelines. For the XL1, these guidelines were supplemented by the MARTA augmented reality function which "labels" the individual parts and elements with text and shows work instructions clearly.

When MARTA is called up, the system lists all of the jobs to be performed along with the necessary equipment. Each work task to be performed begins with what is known as an initialisation. The vehicle's silhouette is shown in the display of the mobile end device, and it shows the employee the orientation to be taken in relation to the vehicle. If the silhouette and the camera image of the real vehicle agree, the initialisation is finished successfully. Then the individual context-dependent work steps are shown on the tablet. This gives the employee a new system for identifying work items quicker and more accurately.

The MARTA project is being presented at the InsideAR Conference, the world's largest Augmented Reality conference in Munich on the 11th of October 2013 by Prof. Dr. Werner Schreiber, Head of Volkswagen Group Research.

Take a look at the video below...