Automotive engineering is no longer a process of 5 or 6 years trying to design a product. Gone are the clay model-making days and with the help of technology, the entire process has sped up, saving time and money for automobile manufacturers. Augmented Reality has taken centre stage for many such companies, while the development of such technology has even created an industry of its own.
Mechanical Engineer and industry veteran, Atul Marwaha has taken this opportunity with his company, Innovate Labs. The Founder and CEO was one of the first to leverage 3D modelling for design and as he points out, “Sometimes, with the 3D modelling, the finished product is ready, they may not look the same, feel the same, and they could be out of proportion.”
He added, “Be it any industry, looking at a 1:1 model is crucial, and that’s why, despite the influx of technology, clay modelling is still existent for visual approval.” There have been other technologies that use virtual headsets. “However, the output was still video game-ish,” says Marwaha. This does not reveal the texture of the material or the correct colours.
Also, with carmakers launching new models or updates, the costs involved will play a crucial role, along with the time taken to design the update. Addressing this was the goal, and Marwaha was able to design an algorithm that allows designers to even feel the texture of materials using a VR headset. “And all this can be done without coding,” he says.
Thus, Design Xperience Suite was born. Targeted at designers, the technology allows carmakers to visualise many aspects of a vehicle in virtual reality, speed up the design process, send it to production, and get it out in the market, saving a lot of time. The company has already won the 13th Aegis Graham Bell Award from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and was supported by Niti Aayog for Innovation in AR VR Category last year for Design Xperience Suite. The company has also won the Meta XR accelerator program managed by FIIT Delhi and MeitY to identify the top XR startups in the country.
The other important aspect the company addresses is evaluation. Without revealing the brand name, Marwaha said, “When this new vehicle was launched, it was a phenomenal one. However, the vehicle happened to have a USB port, which was hidden away, it was just difficult to find it. This being a user interface that will be used every day, would have taken time for the manufacturer to make new moulds for the trim and put it in production. However, this was subsequently done later as an update.”
That’s where Design Xperience Suite comes in, allowing carmakers to put a person in the cockpit, check how user interfaces are, if they’re within reach, and how the driver feels, without spending money. The Founder says that for customers who have started using Design Xperience, one of the most important feedback was how they saved time and crores of money by not going back to their clay models.
With technology this advanced, it can be used for other applications as well, for example, servicing vehicles and even real estate. Design Xperience Suite was launched in 2022 and the company already has customers lined up and renewing their subscriptions. Marwaha is ready to take his business to the next step and the coming months will have more news.
