Mercedes vehicles are even more luxurious with the new ‘Ask Mercedes’ intelligent virtual assistant.
Let’s be honest, does anyone actually read the owner’s manual of their car? You might quickly thumb through it after the initial purchase, but other than that it’s destiny is to be shoved into the back of a glove compartment and forgot by the world. It’s a shame considering the owner’s manual is chock-full of really great information that can help you with the upkeep and performance of your car. Unfortunately, most owners manuals are far from an interesting read.
Mercedes-Benz however wants their customers to feel excited about every aspect of owning one of their cars, even the truly boring parts. The result is Ask Mercedes, an AR experience to help guide you through all of the main features of your luxurious new ride.
First, you’re going to need to own, rent or borrow a 2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class or S-class premium car and then download the Ask Mercedes app from the iOS store. Once downloaded to your phone, simply launch the program and choose “Explore My Features.” This will bring up your phone’s camera to scan the interior of your Benz and place numbered AR beacons on specific parts throughout the interior. Clicking on any of these informative indicators will access information on specific components in the form of how-to videos, or through a digital version of the owner’s manual.
This not only does the augmented experience make the process of getting to know your Benz easier and faster, but it does it in a way that brings an innovative and fun component to an otherwise mind-numbing experience.
“We are creating a personalized customer experience that goes well beyond the vehicle,” said Britta Seeger, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Sales in a press release, adding, “With innovative services such as ‘Ask Mercedes’ we are further expanding our digital ecosystem.
One of the biggest non-driving benefits of Mercedes switching to an AR manual, is that it reduces the amount of paper the company would normally use to print a traditional car manual. To give you an idea of exactly how many sheets of loose-leaf that is, in 2017 the company sold approximately 2.5 million cars worldwide. That’s a lot of printed owner’s manuals.
Of course, Ask Mercedes does more than bring AR to the car experience. Owners are also able to use the apps virtual assistant to ask questions such as, “how do you charge your phone,” or “which drive motors should you use?” It’s designed to be part of the updated Mercedes-Benz driving experience.
The Ask Mercedes app is free only on the Apple iOS store with plans for a release on Android in the near future. While the company still plans on including a physical copy in their vehicles for the time being, the goal is to eventually replace all paper copies with the informative AR application.
Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz
