Smart Glasses in the Shop: Inside NAPA Autotech’s XcceleratoR Training [THA 478]

0:00This is the Automotive Repair Podcast Network. Hey everybody, Carm Capriato, Remarkable Results Radio, and another Town Hall Academy. Thank you so much to our great friends at Napa Tracks for sponsoring us to be here. We have been talking way too much on this trip about, so how's your SMS doing? What are you learning from it? How are you implementing it? And the amazing thing is we find that there's so many features inside of SMSs today that people aren't using.

0:30And I know one thing for sure, what NapaTrax does, wow, constant training, local representation. If you're not playing in the big deep sandbox at NapaTrax, shame on you. napatrax.com. I have an episode coming up for you that is something I've kind of been waiting a long time to really see the evolution from last April when we were in Vegas with the NAPA Now and this whole extended reality thing came on and we played with virtual things and everything.

1:03And the two guys that are so responsible for it are here and they're going to give us an update, something you just don't want to miss. Hey, let's face it, your shop management system is the most critical tool in your shop, and NAPA Tracks will move your shop into the SMS fast lane. With onsite training, 6 days a week support, and local representation.

1:26Find NAPA Tracks on the web at napatracks.com. Ready to optimize with today's class? Boy, listen to an episode we did with David Boyes. Great program. Roll out a training plan for your automotive shop in just 5 minutes daily. Boost knowledge retention and improve team performance. Start seeing results today. Join your peers at today'sclass.com. Shop owners, stop juggling multiple marketing tools. Kukui's integrated platform, they deliver 4 times better website conversions, automated follow-up, and real-time ROI tracking.

2:03Get industry-leading customer support with Kukui. That's kukui.com. You're probably tired of chasing new customers who never return. We understand. Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one-and-done cycle, turning first visits into lasting reliable revenue on the web at pitcrewloyalty.com. Okay, I'm with Ed Crumpton. Are you still the Director of Program Development, or did you get 10 more titles that Jason gave you? I think I got them without the titles.

2:37That's a great answer. I love that answer. But yeah, my job title's still the same. But yeah, the responsibilities sometimes grow a little bit, but That's the beauty of how our team works. By the way, I read this article today about the shortest sentence in the world. No, period. Yeah. We don't know that word. Yeah. It's not in the Napa lexicon, actually.

3:01No. Uh, Robin Koei is here. Creative technologist, content producer development. This whole AI point of view stuff is in Napa. Saw the stuff that you did and said, this guy may be able to help us go to the next level. Is that what happened? Yeah, we got introduced to Napa through a friend. It was the, you know, very beginning of the business that we had just started.

3:26I think the thing that kind of started to make, or at least caught Napa's attention, was we were very, very focused on the return of investment and we were very focused on not the technology, but the result and the impact that what we're doing could have. And so you work backwards. And then we work backwards. Wow. Yeah. By the way, I forgot to mention that we are here at Vision 2026.

3:51Thanks to Sherry Hamilton for giving us our same studio that I think we've had for like 8 years in a row. This is such a cool place. And in fact, I don't hear any air conditioning going on. It usually, we always have a big hum up top. Just look at Robin's shirt. Do you have one like this? Uh, actually I do. I actually have the matching underwear as well.

4:09In fact, Whoa. QR code right across the butt. We just went with the racing vibes. And I only wear it when I'm at the cabin with the wife alone. Right, right. Wait, I have a cabin? You tell me you go to the lake all the time. Yeah, that's the lake house. Yeah, we— the lake house, I meant. Yeah. That's where the Speedo version is.

4:31And so we were just coming outta lunch and I saw these like 5 or 6, obviously your trainers. We've actually got 10 people here. We've got 7 stations. We're doing demos of the headsets, demos of the glasses, demos of the mixed reality, and we're just letting everybody get their hands on this stuff that we've been talking about. And I was with you guys at APEX where you, you know, again, you keep bringing on these incredible announcements and these new levels that you're going at.

4:58And I'm sure there are new listeners that have not heard about this yet because it's a pretty big world out there. Yeah. What's it all about and why is it so important and so critical that we need to be in the stratosphere as far as the level of education, the ability to repair in an efficient timeframe, and having knowledge at our fingertips?

5:21Wow. I mean, when you want to talk about, you know, the 30,000-foot view is NAPA is always looking for solutions to help its autocare centers and different types of customers. And you look at the shortfall of technicians, that's one major problem. The speed to get a technician up to what we would call a, you know, billable state to where that ROI for shop owners that's investing in a young man or woman in this industry, that has to ratchet up dramatically.

5:47Also, the level of technology today and how fast it comes. Any way that we can speed up education, you know, raise recruitment and retention, and then also how do we speed up the ability to reach out and touch information and make everybody more efficient. It's not just good for the shop owner, it's good for technicians. Technicians have a massive barrier of entry when it comes to tools and investments and things like that.

6:11So the faster we can get him up to speed or her up to speed and be able to start to get that return of investment, then everybody's winning across the board. And this also allows us to attract some new type of talent into the industry and keep this industry rolling the way it should. You inspired me to think that if I was a B&A tech working I got 8, 9 years in, my owner of my Napa Auto Care or Napa Gold Shop comes in and says, look at guys, we're going there.

6:41And I've got these glasses on and I am connected to the outside world in my little old cool little high technology bay here. And all of a sudden I learned something new because I asked and I was curious. Where are the aha moments? I guarantee you they're happening. Even from the trainers who are helping you do this, do you see that the aha moments, the learning curve, even though we've got seasoned people, are gonna go into the stratosphere?

7:09This whole experience has been about listening, truly. When we first started working on this, we went for 2 months, we just went and talked to shop owners and we talked to techs. And at the beginning, we were really working on this kind of entry-level tech question, like, How do we get guys and girls in high school? How do we get them coming out of, you know, tech school?

7:31Or how do we get people who are new to the shop? How do we get them basically making more money themselves individually as techs, but then also making more money for the shop, etc.? We spent a lot of time listening to what those challenges were, and the result of that is we developed 53 lessons in virtual reality that basically provides the core information that you need to know.

7:57I love the way that Jim Przybylski, head of training, works with Matt, sums it up. He says, look, brakes pay bills. So start with let's have people being able to fix brakes. And at this show, we are delivering 21 of those 53 lessons. And of course, the thing that we're addressing is brakes pay bills. And what we realized is, wow, there's such a rich amount of Napa know-how.

8:27And Matt and I were having breakfast, I think it was at ASTA, and we're having breakfast and just talking about things. And he just went on this like aha moment, like, you know, he said, and he said, you know, what if we could take this know-how and this knowledge and basically put it at the tip of your tongue? And if you were in the context of like, oh, here I am.

8:49Whatever, I'm a C-tech or a B-tech, and I reach this problem that I just don't have, you know, the real answer for. What if you could just ask that question and instantly get a verified, true, contextually accurate answer? And I was like, yeah, man, we can do that. Yeah. See, I don't think there's anything you can't do. I think that's what makes this so exciting, where we started and where it's kind of morphed, is every time we sit down and talk, and the more we deep dive into the technology.

9:22And of course, that changes so fast. And the more that we get to test and play with the equipment and all of its capabilities, it just opens up another door and another door and another door. And it's been like lightning in a bottle in the last 6 months of everything that's kind of developed in the direction that we're heading. I thought I was excited about it in April at Napa Now, but now I realize what a difference it's going to make because the training aspect, we knew it was going to impact a lot of people.

9:51The smart glass with the integrations to be able to provide that type of service, that impacts everybody. So from shop owners to technicians, all levels of technicians, things like that, all of that can be impacted. And we know we're working with something pretty special. Napa know-how is back. That's right. How cool is that? Robin, are you like a kid in a candy store?

10:12I am. You know, I have a very weird origin story. You know, my father, we're originally from South Africa. Yeah, he worked in these gold mines right out of— he's an industrial psychologist, and he picked up a film camera and started filming from the point of view of people who are trying to learn how to be gold miners. And it was this kind of first-person experience— he called it point-of-view learning— that became the basis of 50 years of learning and development training that he's done.

10:43And did a lot of work for Mercedes-Benz in Germany and Ford. And so Automotive and teaching people how to learn things has been a part of my dad's life his whole life. And then I stole that idea of this kind of first-person thing when I was in film school. Yeah. And I decided to apply it to a movie called The Blair Witch Project, and I made that film.

11:03And that kind of changed my life because obviously it was a great success, but it really put me kind of with the ability to explore technology. I got into gaming, ended up running the Madden football franchise for a couple of years, and then really got into, okay, how do we use this technology to help people? And Dad and I worked on a program where we helped electricians, entry-level electricians.

11:32We reduced the amount of time from about 8 months down to 15 days for entry-level electricians to learn how to get into that business. And that's when we decided, you know what, we really need to take this to other enterprises. We met Napa, and that's how it got started. So from this literally down in a gold mine shaft all the way to what we're doing now, it's a really exciting process to bring these tools to such an important career.

12:06It's such an important task. The industry is going to start hearing about XR. And when you say XR to me, the next words that come out of your mouth are mixed reality. Let's explain mixed reality to the audience. Let them understand the options that are there. Yeah. So extended reality, XR, includes something called virtual reality. So that's complete immersion. So I want to basically transport you into a shop.

12:33And we built a studio. You know, we worked with Matt. Matt took out one of the training centers and we turned it into basically a capture studio. And we then built that, a digital double of it in virtual reality. By the way, is Jim Perlbisky— is he signing autographs? I mean, he's going to be the hit parade. He's the new movie star.

12:52Between him and Darryl, I don't need you to float their ego anymore. Yeah. And Darryl— Darryl is the guy. Darryl won a great award at the conference. He did. He did. The vendor. Darryl's the most amazing host. Darryl stepped up, man. Yeah, he did. In virtual reality, you basically experience— you see his big hands. They call him Sasquatch. You see his Sasquatch hands.

13:12And you see it from his point of view. And so you learn from Darryl's point of view as he shows you what to do. And then you actually do that and test in it, right? So that's virtual reality. Then you got mixed reality where you're looking through, you're using real tools and actually working on mockups. You know, Napa has been so successful with their mockup program that they have for in-person instruction that, you know, this is such a big part of what Matt does and Scott and So now imagine having those things, but now you've got a digital help.

13:45So you're doing, working with real things. And then finally, now you're actually on the job and you're wearing these very light glasses, and that's called augmented reality. So you got virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality. Those are the technologies. And who cares about the technologies? We put it all together and it's called XR. Did you ever think that you'd be a glasses salesperson right now?

14:09Because he came into the studio before we sat down, he goes, I gotta show you these. It's funny, that's exactly what he did to me before we came in here. I'm pretty sure he gets a commission. Yeah, like, hey man, oh, oh, come here. I mean, I did order some, so he did his job. I mean, these things are amazing. Yeah, he's showing you, he's showing you.

14:34Yeah, yeah, look at the camera. So they're super lightweight, they've got dual cameras on either side. You can take still pictures, you can take video. They got microphones on the belly here. So you got stereo microphones, you got speakers, or you got these that just slip into your ears so you can hear really clearly. And then essentially you have the power to basically talk into these.

14:57It gives you information back. You can take a photograph, you can take a video that can then integrate with all sorts of technologies. So you can integrate with Shop Software, you can integrate with DVI, you can integrate with You know, one of our new partners— can we mention who our partners are with? Identifix. Yeah. So we've been working with Identifix and their diagnostics tools and, you know, all of the incredibly rich information that Identifix has with Direct Hit.

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18:23Robin, is it coming to you through the earpiece or are you seeing it somehow? No. So right now it's all audio. Okay. And the reason is, and this goes back to that breakfast we were talking about, when you're in the flow of doing the work that you're doing, if you've got to come out and interrupt that work and go to a, you know, get out from under the vehicle that kind of stuff.

18:47You want to be able to use your hands the whole time, just ask a question, get an answer in your ears. So right now we're just doing audio, cameras, video, and right now we're not doing anything on the screen because we don't want to get in between the technician. Now it may be it does have the capability, you know. Matt and I have really tried to like test something, learn something.

19:11We're, you know, this has been a very live project. We've purposely trying to expose it to people so that they can tell tell us what they need. And if somebody says to me, oh, I really need something on the display, we'll figure out how to do that. But for right now, it's just audio, answers questions, takes pictures, you know, and sends it to other things.

19:30So it's an input device. Can you have a tablet and say, can you send it to my tablet? Yeah. So the wiring diagram that you want, you don't have to go back and type it in. As a technician, if I need to look at a wiring diagram or something a little bit more in-depth diagnostic process, that's when you should stop what you're doing, take the time to research, develop a diagnostic process, and then walk through that process.

19:55Okay. What we want to impact is I don't want the technician leaving the car to look up a torque spec, a location, a description of operation, a wire color or a pinout, or technical service bulletins that may give me a head start of what items I need to test first. And it's all in this idea of just trying to shave 1 to 3 minutes a job.

20:17If you can do that, it's dramatically impact If it's going to be more in depth than that, that's where you do want the technician to step back and want to be able to look at things in plain sight. And again, you know, Matt Fanslow talks about it, that diagnostic process is that don't go head over heels into a car, create a plan and then work your plan.

20:39So when we need to be able to do that, then we want them to take a break from the vehicle and develop that. But this is that quick hit information that keeps you at the car, keeps you in the rhythm and in the flow. And of course, I know in my experience is sometimes I am laid out on my back in the floorboard of a car, which is extremely comfortable.

21:00Oh, right. So sorry. That's why you walk like you walk, right? I walk at an angle and I keep making left-hand turns. So but you look at it as I'm under the dash and if I had a light there, I'm still hands-free and I'm trying to track down a wire or electrical problem. And I want to ask the pinout on a connector under the dash.

21:20It's worth it if I can ask and it gives me that information instead of me having to crawl back out, go over to the computer, pull something out. Or even if you've already printed it, looking at pieces of paper, we're beyond that. We have the technology to improve technician efficiency. And also their lifestyle is that they want to be able to be done with the job faster.

21:39And if we can make that easier, we impact them in a positive way. Let me ask a question about wearing the glasses. And if I'm going to take a picture, I'm recording Robin. Yes. If I'm looking directly at you, it's going to get you. Is it my head? It's not my eyes, it's my head. So I've got to make sure that I'm looking straight ahead if I want that picture.

21:59So it's actually what was very important to technicians that we talked to was that it's not always on. The device is not always on. You control it when you want to control it. So you can activate it, you can say take a picture or take a video. You're in control. And, you know, I think everybody— we're not about spying on people or like, you know, gathering all this.

22:24This is a tool like any other tool to be used when you need to use it. And, you know, yeah, you can— it's very light. It's lightweight. One thing I want to add here, and I want to be kind of clear about where we are in our journey, you know, we started a year ago listening, like I said, we've built really valuable VR, which I think is what we've got right now.

22:47And we have a very early version of the glasses. That's where we are now. By the end of the year, all of these things that we're talking about, like Identifix, and we've got other partners that we're talking to, all of that will be incorporated into what we're doing. And so that'll come out by SEMA. And so this is an evolving product where We're building on top of the technology by continuing to listen to what technicians need and what is actually valuable to them and for them.

23:20So I wanna make sure we make a distinction when Matt and I are talking about it. We're actively not only thinking about it ourselves or Jim Przybylski or Darryl or any of the other NAPA, you know, techs who are there, but we're also talking to shops all the time. We're, Talking to techs all the time and we're trying to figure out, okay, what would be valuable to you?

23:42And so it's really kind of building it in the open as we discover these things that have value. So I just wanna make that clarification. I get the glasses right now. Yes, sir. And the possibility of this continuing to double what it can do is going to happen, let's say once a quarter or something with this investment. Continued to have value in, say, a year, or would somebody say, way to get this done?

24:09I mean, I hate when people don't want to get involved. I guess my point is this investment, this commitment to this Napa XR, it really should happen now. Yeah, no, it is valuable now, and we wouldn't be here putting it out here for people to purchase Today, today's really the first day that people can, you know, get in. At Napa Now, we had some super early believers.

24:36We called them the early adopters. Yeah, yeah. And it was literally only Napa Now that we opened that window, and those people amazingly came in and supported us right in the very beginning. And then we've been listening to them the whole way through. And so now, a week ago, we opened it up for those early believers to purchase. They were the first people who could purchase..

24:57And now today is the first time anyone outside of those early adopters can actually purchase. And that value will continue to stack. Absolutely. That's a perfect opening to what I was gonna ask next. And that is you had your vendors summit a couple of weeks ago. You gave some great awards out to people. And when you think about all the vendors in the room, there are so many that can play in this sandbox.

25:21Yes. Oh yeah. And so let's just think about digital vehicle inspections. Comprehensive safety reviews. If I was going to— again, maybe it's not happening today, but maybe it is. I'm looking straight ahead and I take a picture, I'm doing a video, however you have to explain that to your glasses. I can't imagine how much time it can save from inspecting and looking camera up, picture, and back.

25:51You're already in the moment Why should you have to stop and click? I think, yeah, when you think of like DVI and we'll just talk about that for a second. Sure. You look at it as a hands-free extension of that DVI tablet to be able to take videos, pictures, be able to annotate instead of sitting there typing your notes and things like that.

26:12I also look at it from a customer experience is we all know a lot of customers today, they don't want to talk to anybody. Just send it to me through text, let me look at it and I approve or anything else. But the more information you provide a customer, the more educated decision they can make. So, but you still want to keep some personal touches there.

26:31So if you think about if I am a technician or a service advisor, I can click video and talk through and actually point live and sit there and say, here's where the oil leak is. This is the process we need to do. We need to clean this up. We need to put dye in it. We need to be able to test and things like that.

26:47But this is where we're looking at and be able to add that to the DVI and be sent to the customer. Yeah, it's a lot more personal. And then somebody can sit there and go, wow, they're just talking to me like one of the other people and explaining what's going on with my car. I think that gives a whole nother level of confidence.

27:02So it's an enhancement. Also, it's not always the easiest to take a tablet and shove it in an area to try to take a picture. Exactly right. And the thought that I had was in all the great DVI companies that are out there, they're going to integrate. You're walking down the line in the tablet, but the glasses are going to be integrated there, if not wherever on the cloud this picture goes, as I'm looking at front end, for example.

27:27So there's people that have to step to the plate and help you integrate the glasses, right? Yep. I would almost envision it as— and once they select the vehicle on the DVI, I want us to get to a point where they don't have to pick up the tablet at all. It is select the vehicle, be able to take pictures, and it prompts you to the next inspection, the next inspection,, and it should say, are you recommending bakes?

27:47Yes, no. Are you recommending this? Yes, no. And it's all verbal and prompted and pictures and everything else. And the tablet just stays on the docking station. That's where I would like us to go. Think about the amount of knowledge, for example, that's in Trax, right? And if that knowledge from Trax is actually then, you know, going to the DVI, which that's already happening on some really important partners that we already have, and then you've got all of that It's the ease of the interface.

28:16It's the simplicity of, in a way, being able to talk to the car, right? Because you've got all the history there. You've got all the information. Once you have that VIN number, it's like the VIN number is the gateway to the world, right? But now you're just talking to that vehicle. And like Matt said, actually, I love— I'm going to start using what you just said.

28:35It's about the humanity of it, right? It's about the personalization of it. Both to the technician and also to the customer. I love that because that is definitely— yeah, like in my stack, whether it's XR or AI, I've got a lot of technology. But again, who cares about the technology if you're not actually serving a problem? Yeah, the technology is to supercharge everything, but we don't want to take away the personal touch and the relationship piece of it.

29:02So it's a fine balance of using technology to enhance everything we're doing. But not taking out all those personal touchpoints. The words seamless workflow just flowed through me, that the glasses can function as the next thing you're doing. It's almost ready or prepared, or all you have to do is hit a one particular button and then jump into a project that it knows you're getting ready to do.

29:29And it— think of an orchestration, you know, think of the conductor. You've got all these tools in front of you in this wonderful technology bay, and the glasses are just sitting up on a shelf, brightly lit, just hanging there. We've talked about that, is that they're just sitting on the docking station, and when you need them, you pick them up and it's an extension.

29:49But I'll say this, I mean, even going further, is that look at what a technician and shop owners, service advisors deal with every single day. This is already a very tough industry. Those days of working on cars, it's a little volatile because things can go wrong. It's extremely challenging mentally, emotionally, and physically. Technicians go through a lot, and they're never fully appreciated of how difficult this job is.

30:14Yeah. All we want to do is give them a lifeline and say, we're here for you, we understand what you're going through, and we're trying to make your life just a little bit easier. And if we can do that, then we're impacting our customers in a good way. And that's really the number one reason we're doing this, is we recognize, because almost everybody working on this project on the backend with development has been in that space.

30:34We know how hard this job is. And if somebody would've told me I had this 20 years ago, 15 years ago when I was turning wrenches, then yeah, I couldn't believe what I could have done in my career. But I just think that that's what really we need to recognize is we're just trying to impact them in a positive way. You would've said it's Disney back then.

30:56Yeah, this is Disney. Yeah. And Robin, is it Disney? No, no, this is very real. I think I'll go one step further because it is an ecosystem that we're really working on because when people use the glasses, they're essentially updating the knowledge base by being in the real world doing real fixes. I think sometimes, you know, training or learning development or like whatever you call it, sometimes it's gotten a bad reputation where maybe it's not connected to the real world.

31:31Oh, here's the theory of how to fix something. And then people often say, it was like, well, yeah, that's what it said in a book. But when I actually got in the trenches and I was really fixing it, this is the real world. And you call that experience, right? Well, the glasses can actually then teach the virtual reality and teach that other side of it how to do it, right?

31:54It's a complete, like, continuous cycle of making it better. So every tech who uses these glasses are basically helping their other brethren, to use that term, by improving the technology because it gets better and stronger. And then that loops back to the entry-level people, right? Like, when we started this we were excited about getting young people into being an auto technician, right?

32:21Like, we wanted to reach out to them, just like the people who bought Madden from us who were excited about that game world. When young kids put on that headset, they're like, I know this. Like, I know this. I've played lots of games like this. So it's like making that entire ecosystem work. I love what you're saying. And I've never been more impressed with established industries are focusing on young people and giving them— not only is this technology tool going to make us more efficient and smarter and better, but it lends itself to our younger people.

32:53And I'm not saying it's a toy, it's not. No, but it's how they're going to want to exist in this world. It's an app, it's a phone, it's a set of, you know, reality glasses, it's my screens, it's my connection, it's my wireless, it's my Bluetooth, it's all this stuff, and it's all wrapped into where we've got to be in the future and how we're going to engage young people in this high-tech industry.

33:18Every industry is searching for the silver bullet of how do I go after young demographics and attract them. We're no different in this industry. We've just struggled at it probably more than some others. Yeah, this is one of those ways to get there. And I think, you know, from the ASC case study that we did, there was one resonating thing that one of the students said.

33:36He says, this allows me to learn in kind of a real-world format without the anxiety of making mistakes. Because you look at it, you know, when I started out, you made mistakes. It was part of learning. Well, today's mistakes are 3 times more expensive than the mistakes I ever made. Yeah. Now, maybe my first boss may argue about that, some of the mistakes I made.

33:59But I do think that that's important, is that when we have to look at is every generation is a little bit different and we have to adapt to how do we attract them and how do we make them feel comfortable and how do we educate them really the way that they prefer to be educated instead of just trying to force a square peg in a round hole.

34:18We've got to adapt and say, this is the best way that we can attract, train, and retain. Yeah. And that's the angle that we got to take. Yeah. I think he actually said is like the quote unquote is like, it gave me the confidence to do this in the real world. Yeah. So it became that bridge. That word confidence is so important.

34:36So help me understand the rollout. Virtual, mixed, augmented. How do we get the virtual glasses and then the mixed in the field? Can you do this online? Do you have to go to a center? We try to simplify it as much as possible. It's XR. It comes in a package, right? So you get a headset, you get a pair of glasses. We've got a package actually where you could get a headset that has 3 uses and you got 3 pairs of glasses.

35:04Okay. So you got 2 packages. One is a single, you know, headset glasses, and then you have one that's headset, 3 sets of glasses, 3 uses of the headset. So those are the 2 basic packages and it's all involved, right? And all the updates, all the customer support, everything comes with it. Like going forward, as you go forward. I was at Napa Now and there was a Caliper in front of me.

35:29I guess it was virtual at that time. That's mixed. Was that augmented? A mix? Mix. Okay. And I had to pick the right tool. Oh, that was virtual. That's the virtual. Okay. Yeah, yeah. If I'm a shop and I'm hooked to the internet and I'm doing this, do I as the shop have to know from, if you will, a teacher's guide what to put in front of that student?

35:51You know, let's back up. The one thing I have gotten from shops is like, what requirements do I need? That's good. And really, it's Wi-Fi. I will say, like anything else, and shops already deal with this with diagnostic tablets things like that, especially ADAS equipment that are using camera systems, is sometimes there are some firewall or security that you have to adjust.

36:11But for the most part, it's pretty plug and play. It's Wi-Fi. Yeah, it's Wi-Fi. It's Wi-Fi and keeping it charged. It is a self-contained unit. So you just, once you connect, you put it on, you connect it to the Wi-Fi and you go. And then you do need, you know, basically the reason it's using Wi-Fi is we've got so much content, like think of this from my perspective, right?

36:33I made 9 feature films. They average 2 hours. We made 53 movies. Movies. That's what we've done over the last year. We're making 53 movies over the last basically 2 years. We're making 53 movies. So it's a lot of content. And so the reason it has to have Wi-Fi is it goes up in the background. You don't have to do anything. It goes up, it grabs the next piece of thing, and it brings it down.

36:59This is for the VR that we're talking about, right? With the glasses, because it's audio, it's instant, it's real-time. It's much what we call lighter in the technology sense. Oh, I see. So the glasses are hyper-contextual. You're asking a very specific question about a very specific situation, a torque spec or a, you know, as the list. TSB or location or description of operation.

37:25So think the glasses are very specific and they're nonlinear. They're not in a sequence. They're just whatever you need. The headset is the opposite, right? It is, okay, especially as a beginner, here's the best practice. Do this, then do this, then do this. And instead of just telling you, do this, do this, you're actively actually doing it in the headset. So you're learning by doing.

37:49You're not reading text on a screen. Who wants to read like lots of text? People just want to fix things, right? And that builds that muscle memory as well. It is over and over and over again. And by the way, they're being kind of assessed or measured throughout that. So you can't just keep going through the modules just because it's not a participation trophy.

38:09They've got to be able to complete the module, answer the questions, have to be able to be at 100% before they can go to the next stage. So again, muscle memory, repetitiveness, and what we used to call that was just work experience. So now we're trying to do that at an accelerated rate before they even have to go out there and touch a car and start actually changing parts.

38:28We teach 5 ideas and we test 5 ideas. Teach 5, test 5. You don't get to idea number 6 unless you've passed all 5 of those ideas. So teach 5, test 5. And my dad has been using that for years and it's what we're still using. So that's fantastic. And then we worked incredibly closely, not only with the amazing guys at NAPA, but with the amazing people at ASE.

38:53Because we wanted to make sure, okay, you reach an end of a lesson and you're going to have to take your ASE certification test. So we had one of the ASE instructors come in and say, okay, from the lesson you just learned, here's the things that you really need to pay attention to for your ASE test. Again, it's all about improve. It's got to be better for techs, better for shops, better for customers.

39:15I love that hook. Yeah, that's a great hook. And I don't mean hook in a negative way. It's exactly what should be done. Is it? Are you having any fun, Robin? Matt and I get him to— he is. I'm not having anything. Yeah, no, he's playing music, you're conducting. Am I right? He is the orchestra. I don't know. Now that— I don't know about that, but I cannot believe how many plates Matt spins.

39:38It's remarkable. Look, the other thing that I have, you know, over the— since we talked, and I've gotten to meet this incredible group of companies that Matt has brought together and the partners. The partner ecosystem at Napa is remarkable. It is the quality of people across the board. And boy, the talk about like being honored to be part of this peer group, and that is all a, you know, big tribute to Matt and his team.

40:06I think, you know, most of the partners would tell you that's, uh, probably more Lauren than anybody else. Yeah, yeah, I think they like more— I think they like Lauren more than they like me. You're just tougher. I'm not mean. Everybody keeps thinking I'm mean. No, you're not mean. You're tougher. Okay, okay, accept that. Yeah, especially with Jason, my boss. Yeah, I'm really tough on him.

40:30He deserves it. First responders who said, hey, we're in. Yeah, and they're getting ready to get on board. Yeah, those early adopters. Anyone else that's saying, I gotta do this thing, is there a time frame? Do we have to wait another few months before— Today's the day. Today's the day. Because you said you were going to announce big here at Vision, and you car.

40:47Yeah, he's already got orders in. NapaXcelerator.com is where you can go. NapaXcelerator.com. That's with an X, not an A. Yes, sorry, Xcelerator. Xcelerator. Thank you. Yes, here at the show we've got a QR code. We're wearing these, you know, super— this is, this is super obnoxious. Yeah, it's super obnoxious shirts. I love it. They're, they're awesome. We've got QR codes here. You can go to the website.

41:11You can call the Auto Care number. Auto Tech, uh, training service center. It's a 1-800 number. We'll get that number over to you, Carmen. But yeah, they can call and even be walked through that way. But going back to the shirt, when he says, Matt, I got to show you something for Vision, and I was like, oh my God, what has he thought of now?

41:27We get on the Teams meeting and he shows me this, and I was like, what is this? What is the— and then he's like, this is a shirt we're gonna— all of our team's gonna wear at Vision. It's gonna have QR codes that go to this. I was like, you're gonna be a walking billboard. And he's like, yes, yes I am. I was like, I love it, just go ahead and do it.

41:43And he's like, I've got you one too. I was like, okay, how? And so I can see somebody walking up to Robin here on the show floor, and they're walking up to him, and Robin smiles. He says, I'm just doing the QR code, man. I'm not taking your picture, right? Because it's right here on his chest. I got front, front and back, front and back, right?

42:04Robin's gonna be like, I'm married, like, back off. And then he realized, like, oh wait, you may be a potential customer. Look at this guy following Robin all over, taking a picture of his back. What's going to be better is that there's a little like wrinkle and he's trying to flatten out his shirt so he can get a better picture of the QR code.

42:21That's right, exactly. It fits my curves too. So you have them too? Oh yeah, you know, it's amazing how that happens. It's always getting around the corners that matters when you're racing, right? Yeah, but I tell you, that Blue Apple logo up front really hides that. Really? That's right, it's the dark colors, they're slimming. I got this strong belief you take your weaknesses and you make them strengths, right?

42:44Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. This was great. Thank you for coming in. I'm thrilled that you guys are on track. I mean, as far as, you know, the launch and everything that's going on, I think this is so exciting and so healthy for our industry and to be involved in helping get part of the message out. That's great. Robin, all the great work that you're doing is your— his dad is more fun than Robin and he's 80 what?

43:09He's up there. He's up there. You'd probably be mad at me me say, he's always— don't treat me like that. Yeah, no, you know, he's 50 years old. First of all, he doesn't— you would never know. You can't keep up with him. No, you can't. No, he's amazing and he's on the team. What I love about him is like, is a continual life learner.

43:26Yeah. And so many of the people that we worked with, like Daryl and Jim and like, and Matt, like, and actually most technicians, they just love learning new tech and new things. And so I think That's the thing I respect the most about my dad. You know what I call that? What's that? Being a perpetual student. Yes, sir. That's what he is.

43:44That's what I am. I wanna learn something new every day, and I just learned a ton of stuff here today. Thank you so much to Matt Crompton, Director of Program Development, and Robin Koei, creative technologist, content producer, developer, and distributor of glasses now, I see. That's right. Wow. Hey, hey, you like my glasses? I am gonna be checking if there's a commission going on.

44:06Thanks guys. All right. All right. Bye-bye. Thanks for being on board to listen and learn from the premier automotive repair business podcast, Remarkable Results Radio. Get your episodic education on the ARPN listing app at automotive repair podcast network.com. Also enjoy the podcast on our Carm Capriato YouTube channel. Carm is all for advancing the professional automotive service industry. Until next time.