Tech Today

How ADAS Certification Will Take Your Business to Another Level

What’s the Vision Zero Automotive Network Certification, and why should you pursue it?

WORDS BY DAVE MACKINNON

The Vision Zero Automotive Network was founded with the goal of saving the lives of drivers and pedestrians through the education and promotion of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and the benefits they offer.

Early on, it was understood that much of the industry had spent decades in the audio business and that safety would be a whole new category to tackle. To start with, safety is not as sexy as rock and roll, so it requires friendly nudges. Additionally, technicians who accustomed to installing radios and speakers may not necessarily understand how to calibrate a 360-degree camera or optimize a blindspot sensor.

Industry Support for Driver Safety Technology

A study by The Boston Consulting Group entitled “A Roadmap to Safer Driving Through Advanced Driver Assistance Systems” stated that almost 10,000 lives could be saved each year if every vehicle on the road had access to the same collision avoidance technology that’s available on new cars and trucks. It’s Vision Zero’s goal to let consumers know that their existing vehicle can be upgraded with technologies like a backup camera, parking sensors, blind spot monitoring systems and much more.

The administration and brand partners of Vision Zero realized early-on that getting the message out about the availability of these solutions wasn’t enough. As such, they’ve created an extensive list of retailers across the United States, Canada and Mexico that can integrate these products into vehicles. The Vision Zero website has a Preferred Retailer application that allows almost any brickand-mortar retailer to join this effort to

A report called “A Roadmap to Safer Driving” stated that almost 10,000 lives could be saved each year with vehicle safety upgrades.

reduce accidents. All you have to do is sign up.

How to Get Certified

The latest initiative from Vision Zero has been to partner with the Mobile Electronics Certified Professional (MECP) program to offer certification that focuses specifically on the function and installation of ADAS, Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), camera systems and situational awareness systems. The new Vision Zero Automotive Network Certification from MECP is intended for specialists as well as installation technicians, and serves to enhance their knowledge of these technologies as well as the applications.

I spoke with Kris Bulla, the owner of MECP, about the Vision Zero certification and its importance to the industry: “Our content creation team worked closely with the Vision Zero team and the companies that support their efforts,” Bulla said. “Our goal was to ensure that this new certification would give retailers the tools they need to be experts in the field of vehicle safety and collision avoidance systems.”

Bulla went on to state that the content has been tailored to educate and inform technicians and sales specialists, ensuring both sides of the shop can suggest the right solutions the client and ensure everything is properly integrated and configured.

“As with our current MECP Product Technology Specialist and Apprentice Installation Technician courses, the content for the Vision Zero certification is available online through MECP using any web browser on any device,” he added. “Once the course has been purchased, the technician or specialist will have access to the content for one year. The course will require roughly seven hours to complete and they have two hours to complete the online exam.”

A Brief Overview of the Vision Zero Network Certification

Bulla went on to explain the details of the Vision Zero Network Certification. The course begins with a series of questions surrounding basic electrical and electronics knowledge, including Ohm’s law, the function and application of switches and relays, over-current protection devices and wiring.

The second section of the course leans toward the domain of the technician, covering installation knowledge and best practices. Making electrical measurements and connections, reading schematics and troubleshooting are key parts of this chapter.

From there, the content becomes very specific about vehicle safety. The third chapter discusses driver distraction and methods to reduce it. Technologies such as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Bluetooth calling are explained in detail. Chapters five and six discuss the purpose and features of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) along with Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS).

Chapter seven takes a deep dive into camera-based systems and includes front and rear-mounted parking camera content along with dashcams, digital video recording systems, blind spot camera systems, lane departure, GPS locating, speed acquisition systems and 360-degree surround view technologies.

The course culminates with a chapter on Situation and Awareness Systems such as radar-based blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert solutions. Tire pressure monitoring systems, pedestrian and cyclist alert systems and distance monitoring systems are also covered.

Taking the Certification Exam

Once the technician or specialist is comfortable with the content, he or she has two hours to complete the 75-question certification exam. The cost of the exam is $99 for the first year’s access and certification, Bulla explained. If the person taking the test is an employee of a Vision Zero Network Member retailer, the price is reduced to $59. If the person is

The MECP Vision Zero Automotive Network Certification course is the stepping-stone to increasing revenue through vehicle safety solution sales.

already an MECP certified technician, the price is $49.

We caught up with Bernie Sapienza, Executive Director of Vision Zero Automotive Network (VZAN) to get his thoughts on the certification process: “From the very beginning, we knew education and certification would be paramount to this effort,” he said. “We could not, in good conscience, build a dealer network without supporting the dealers.” He noted that this program is the first of its kind in the industry, and it’s administered by the leading authority on the subject. He went on to say that VZAN is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. When a business becomes a “Preferred Plus” dealer, they will receive certificates for two employees to gain free access to the certification course on the MECP website.

Register for Free With Vision Zero

Vehicle safety and collision avoidance products can be a profitable category. Adding a backup camera to a multimedia receiver or a dashcam to a security system is an easy upsell when you or your specialists can explain the benefits to a client. Adding an extra hour of labor to an existing ticket goes a long way toward boosting your bottom line.

To get the ball rolling for your shop, start by making sure the company is registered as a Preferred Retailer on the www.vzan.org website. There’s no fee associated with level one membership.

If you want to attract more attention to your store or stores in a busy market, investing in a Preferred Plus membership boosts your visibility when a consumer searches for options, gives you access to Vision Zero Automotive Network Artwork you can use for promotion and provides you with the two aforementioned free MECP Certification course gift certificates.

Next, get your team rolling on the MECP Vision Zero Automotive Network ADAS certification. They can register and begin the education course by visiting www.mecp.com, then click on the Get Certified link at the top of the page. The VZAN Certification is listed under Courses. Not only can your full-time staff benefit from the information this course offers, but it’s a great way to bring a new hire or part-time staff member up to speed on this complex but crucial market.

Increase Profits with Vehicle Safety Solutions

With your team certified, it’s time to display the primary safety and collision avoidance solutions you offer. It’s not difficult to retrofit an existing radio display with a backup camera that triggers the reverse input on all the multimedia receivers at once. Having an aftermarket rearview mirror that will also display the camera image is another great idea. Finally, add a big red button with a label that says “Push Me” to draw the attention of your clients and open up a path to a conversation. If you can find a button with built-in illumination, use a timer to make it blink.

Solutions like blind spot monitoring systems are better demonstrated on a company demo vehicle. Whether you have a dedicated car or truck, or you use staff vehicles, outfitting several of them with camera or radar-based blind spot and cross-traffic alert systems will turn them into an even more powerful tool to educate potential clients about the solutions you offer.

Once your team is ready and the store is prepared, the last step is to update your website with collision avoidance content. Posts about the specific solutions you’ve created for clients help target unique vehicles and the available custom solutions.

A good example of this content is a post about the addition of a backup camera to a sixth-generation BMW

3-series. You can show an image of a lip-camera installation and another which displays the camera image on the factory display. Once your website has been updated, then you can use these posts to bolster your social media efforts. Linking back to a website with detailed content is a proven method of converting browsers to buyers.

With so many retailers clamoring for ways to increase traffic to their stores, partnering with Vision Zero and the new MECP skills certification program seems like an easy way to bring in new clients and revenue.

Dave MacKinnon has worked in the mobile electronics industry since 1988 in almost every capacity, including roles as a Retail Salesperson, Installer, Sales Representative, Technical Trainer and Product Development Manager for some of the largest car audio companies in the world. Dave started his writing career in 2000 as the Technical Editor of a Toronto-based car audio magazine and has reviewed more than 450 products. Formally trained as an Electronics Technician, Dave is considered an industry expert when it comes to explaining how mobile audio components work, and he has crafted thousands of articles to share that knowledge. He’s currently the head writer for 1sixty8 media and the editorin-chief at BestCarAudio.com.