Groove Jones partnered with two Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) teams; Toyota Logistics Services (TLS) Anthony Sanor and Jazmieka Smith, and Applied Technology David Kleiner and Todd Hickman, to help solve a business need of influencing the buying decisions in the parts and accessory market. The parts and accessories market is a billion-dollar industry and it is often overlooked.
Customer feedback has always addressed the need for better point-of-purchase supporting materials and greater accessory variety. Dealerships often do not have brochures or examples of available accessories, and websites may not have up-to-date images. The Toyota team devised the hypothesis that AR could improve the customer experience and capture the business opportunity. Thus, they reached out to Groove Jones to prove their hypothesis.
We collaborated with both Toyota teams to brainstorm the creation of an AR-enabled sales tool to help visualize the accessories on a physical vehicle during the sales process. One of the requirements was to ensure that the tool could also be tied to existing sales and inventory systems.
The challenge was to create an AR App that could digigtally add the aftermarket accessories onto a new vehicle during the purchasing process. The Toyota team wanted to focus our initial work on the most customizable vehicle: the Tacoma.
The proposed AR tool included the following key elements:
- The customer identifies the vehicle model name
- App uses machine learning to detect single or double cab, and bed length
- App has the ability to lock on to an existing vehicle
- Users can then select from a list of available accessories
- The App then visualizes AR accessories on the actual vehicle
The combined Groove Jones – Toyota team focused on creating the Application’s robust features including using machine learning to allow the App camera system to identify the vehicle, and leveraging Apple’s ARkit to attach computer-generated accessories to the physical vehicle, without the need of any markers or images on the vehicle.
Digitally Visualizing 3d Accessories
Groove Jones created photo-realistic 3D models of the accessories. The results were breathtaking and very convincing when attached to the physical truck.
The App was tested at multiple dealerships that provided feedback on usability and performance. All in all the prototype App is a success. By leveraging new technologies, Toyota can realize more accessory sales, instead of losing that revenue to 3rd party vendors. The Toyota team submitted a joint patent with Groove Jones addressing the projection of virtual accessories onto a physical vehicle.