Daimler Trucks North America said its recent and upcoming rollouts of Techlane, Service Pre-Authorization, and TechAssist will help dealers meet its goal of 24-hour maximum repair turnaround time.

“With investments in new technologies like Techlane and TechAssist, we estimate that we could see as much as a 20% gain in technician efficiency at many dealer locations,” said Paul Romanaggi, chief customer experience officer of DTNA. “It’s all about maximizing uptime.”

Techlane uses DTNA’s analytics, such as data on warranty repair history in connection with fault codes logged during a repair event, to provide technicians more information going into the diagnostic process. The application also:

• Provides specific guided diagnostics to verify identified components during testing

• Interfaces via DTNA’s proprietary diagnostic tool, DiagnosticLink

• Automatically logs data from each repair to inform technicians performing future repairs

The Service Pre-Authorization feature automates the repair approval process by establishing a repair-cost threshold by dealer, under which repairs will proceed without the need for authorization.

Techlane was rolled out in a pilot phase in February 2020, with plans for deployment across DTNA’s dealer network later this year, while the Pre-Authorization program was launched in January 2020, with customers currently able to sign up at participating dealers.

Later this year, TechAssist, a voice-controlled, technician efficiency app, will also be available. The app will give audible, step-by-step instructions on how to perform repair operations. It was initially conceptualized at Hackathon in Austin, Texas, in 2019. The winning team, Reinforce Inc., is actively engaged with DTNA to bring this application to the dealer network.