TECHNOLOGY
THE ASTECH APPROACH REPAIRIFY (ASTECH) PRESIDENT CRIS HOLLINGSWORTH ON WHAT’S AHEAD
QA &
By Max Reid
W
hether it be as rudimentary as a backup camera or tire pressure gauges, or as complicated as a fully self-driving platform, ADAS components can be found in nearly every vehicle on the road today, and they aren’t getting any less complicated. Companies like asTech help provide shops with the tools and documentation to stay current with the always-changing world of advanced driver-assistance systems. Through asTech’s acquisition of adasThink, and the more recent investment from 3M, the company’s reach is extended further than ever, to help get shops prepared for these new components. That is why Collision Repair got a hold of Cris Hollingsworth, president of Repairify, asTech’s parent company, to talk about the future landscape for collision repairers in an increasingly ADAS-heavy world. Collision Repair: With the widespread use of ADAS technology becoming more prevalent and an overall decrease in collisions expected to result from that, how do you expect the business landscape for collision shops to change?
Cris Hollingsworth, president of Repairify (asTech).
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Cris Hollingsworth: If that does happen, we know it’s important to help empower the shops and our business partners to be prepared for the sophistication of the vehicles. Our company recently acquired adasThink; we’re very pleased with that because of the additional services that we can provide to our customers. The data is validating that 80-plus percent of vehicles today require one or more calibrations. What we see is that with the growing sophistication of and complexity of parts, shops will be evolving; this will be both a challenge and an opportunity for shops. It is a challenge to make certain that they stay current with
the right tools, technology and equipment in order to do those calibrations. It is not simple to do a calibration. Today, it involves exterior components, like targets or alignment systems, or even just having a level floor. CR: What proportion of collision shops today do you believe are currently capable of ADAS calibrations? CH: asTech has internal data and we look at it constantly to determine exactly how many of our customers are capable of doing certain kinds of calibrations. The challenge is that calibrations have become so widespread and deep that shops have different capability levels. There are facilities capable of doing 50 percent of the calibrations that are present on vehicles today, and there are shops that can do 100 percent of them. It’s not something you can put a percentage on. What is most important here is the fact that we see the way that we can help the industry. There’s going to be more calibrations in the future and shops need to be prepared to do them. At asTech, we’re simply trying to provide the tools and equipment for them to be able to get back to really what is the core objective, which is to fix the vehicle properly and return it to its OE operating conditions. CR: How can the products and services that asTech provides help shops in their dealings with insurers? CH: We’re focused on accuracy and complete quality repair. Going back to the adasThink acquisition; what we see as the first and foremost thing is to help the shop to properly identify the ADAS systems that are in a vehicle. That is what we are accomplishing with that kind of data product.
