The Equipment and Tool Institute’s (ETI) 2017 ToolTech event was held at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter, New Orleans, April 24-27. The event brought together all segments of the automotive industry including OEMs, aftermarket tool and equipment manufacturers, and shops and technicians who service these vehicles.
The annual conference, open to all industry segments, presented many emerging technologies and their implications. In particular, the discussions of the issues, concerns and “need-to-knows” inherent to those trends provided attendees many useful insights.
Some highlights included:
Social and networking opportunities, including a second line parade with attendees, accompanied by a local jazz band, through the streets of New Orleans to the opening reception venue, one-on-one scheduled meeting opportunities
Updates focusing on industry updates and partnerships with ETI and other industry groups such as NASTF, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), International Standards Organization (ISO), the Auto Care Association and more.
An in-depth discussion on a recently created whitepaper titled "Evaluation of various vehicle systems/components to better understand the long-term impact on service and repair, and specifically equipment," which focused on the impact of emerging vehicle technologies on future repair and diagnosis.
An update on the current status of Right-to-Repair implementation for light duty and heavy duty vehicles
An overview of current training curriculum and a discussion on the needs of aftermarket shops requiring further education for technicians.
An overview of emerging technologies, including the continued implementation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), telematics and cloud computing, and vehicle-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-interface communications.
