Cooperation between Continental and Matthies is being expanded – bringing remote diagnosis to workshops

• Following successful pilot phase, solution from wholesaler Matthies goes operational
• Access to vehicle data obtained via Continental’s RVD platform
• Number of vehicles connected with Carespia to be significantly increased

Frankfurt, September 11, 2018 – The technology company Continental and the German automotive parts wholesaler and workshop supplier Matthies are expanding their cooperation for connected vehicles and services. After a successful pilot phase with around 1,000 dongles in selected test facilities, Matthies’ Carespia platform – based on Continental’s RVD solution – is now available on the open market. The platform will be launched at Automechanika in Frankfurt, the world’s leading trade fair for the automotive aftermarket. In order to bring significantly more connected vehicles to the platform, Matthies plans to install several thousand Bluetooth^® or SIM dongles in its customers’ vehicles by the end of 2019. Thanks to Carespia, independent workshops will have access to standardized vehicle data via remote diagnosis – and this will improve their service and strengthen customer loyalty.

“In the aftermarket too, data is the new oil of the 21st century – and those who have it will take the lead in the competition for customers in the long term,” says Peter Wagner, head of the Independent Aftermarket business segment at Continental. “We’re delighted that Carespia is now being rolled out nationwide.” Matthies is one of Continental’s first customers to use the integrated RVD vehicle data platform. “Thanks to Carespia, we’re one of the first providers in the market. This competitive advantage will also benefit the workshops which take advantage of our offer, enabling them to manage their service business more actively,” emphasizes Stefan Onken, one of the Matthies managing directors who is responsible for the Carespia project.

During the pilot phase, selected workshops tested the Carespia platform for over a year and shared their everyday work experiences with Matthies. Continental and the wholesale company have always worked closely together to achieve the best solution for customers. The handling of the dongle for workshops has been made even simpler, for example, and the user interface has now been made more intuitive. Work on the platform will also continue after the market launch: “Our software development is constantly evolving,” says Stefan Onken. The developers are also planning to integrate push messages that will inform a workshop automatically if a fault occurs in a customer vehicle.

Carespia offers Matthies’ customers a turnkey system comprising a dongle, smartphone app and web portal, through which repair shops can implement more efficient service offers tailored to their customers’ needs. Continental’s RVD platform provides access to manufacturer-specific vehicle data via dongle, to the vehicle-dependent configuration of the Bluetooth® OBD II dongles and to the dongles’ device and data management programs. Carespia accesses this data and informs drivers and workshops via the app or the web portal. The GDPR-compliant app is available for iOS and Android.

The workshop always has an overview of a vehicle’s condition in the web portal. Workshop personnel are immediately made aware of critical events in the customer’s vehicle and can contact the customer with the relevant information. In addition to temporary faults that are not stored in the error memory, this also includes items such as the upcoming inspection date that is transmitted directly from the vehicle. Thanks to this comprehensive data, workshops can manage their service business more actively, improve their capacity utilization planning and submit tailored offers to their customers, like a reminder of upcoming maintenance or an oil change.