SUNNYVALE, Calif. – David Yin, Peterbilt’s technical publications manager, knows there is plenty of repair information available to technicians. Peterbilt has 20 million records pertaining to all vehicles and their electrical connections alone.

But, to be honest, he knows it isn’t necessarily being consumed.

A new augmented reality tool, scheduled to be rolled out in late 2019, could help to change that by transforming CAD computing models into 3D images.

Rather than requiring teams to flip through pages of wiring schematics, users of Peterbilt AR Tech will be able to point a tablet computer at a truck, identify components such as harnesses and circuits that they want to address, and spot exactly where they sit underneath the truck’s surface. Even those on the assembly line could use it as a reminder of where to put connections.

“There’s a whole bunch of ideas coming out of this,” Yin said of the seven tablets currently deployed.

It’s among the many initiatives being explored in the Paccar Innovation Center in California’s Silicon Valley.