Daimler Trucks in India sets new benchmark with the opening of a Virtual Reality Centre

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), Daimler Trucks’ commercial vehicle subsidiary in India, continues to push innovative digitalization initiatives as it recently opened the first Virtual Reality Centre (VRC) at its Chennai plant. By doing so, DICV sets a new benchmark in the Indian commercial vehicle industry revolutionizing Customer Service operations and R&D. The VRC allows operators to virtually perform serviceability and accessibility checks using a digital model accessed via 3D goggles and navigational joysticks. This has the potential to transform both R&D and vehicle servicing procedures, as it reduces the need for custom-built tools, prototype vehicles, and service bays. This new capability significantly reduces time and costs required for commercial vehicle testing and development.

Another benefit of using virtual reality is the opportunity it offers for remote collaboration. Daimler Truck teams from around the world can access the same model simultaneously to exchange ideas and opinions. In today’s world of travel restrictions and social distancing guidelines, the benefits this offers are incalculable.

DICV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, operating under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, is a full-fledged commercial vehicle player in India with a brand dedicated to its home market: BharatBenz. Within Daimler Trucks, DICV also acts as a low-cost vehicle and aggregate export centre. Despite the challenging COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented headwinds in the Indian CV market, DICV successfully introduced its new BSVI-compliant range of vehicles, continuously increasing its market share in 2020. In addition, DICV took several measures throughout the pandemic, such as setting up a vaccination center for its employees and the local community, offering safety kits to customers and drivers, as well as relief initiatives for its dealer partners.