Aaron Lowe, senior VP of regulatory and government affairs at the Auto Care Association, has been with that association and the Automotive Parts and Accessories Association (APAA) for more than 30 years. He currently oversees the association’s federal and state legislative and regulatory efforts.
How are new vehicle technologies affecting the aftermarket supply chain?
Mechanical parts are being changed into things that are controlled by computer chips and software, which presents some challenges in building compatible parts. Manufacturers are abusing the copyright system to protect that software in some cases. That’s a major issue. In many cases you have to download software that was on the car from the old part onto the new part, and that’s where manufacturers are trying to restrict access.
The vehicles themselves obviously come with a lot of technology on them right now. We think that presents a lot of opportunities because connected vehicle-to-vehicle communications may raise some opportunities for the aftermarket to participate. Everybody recognizes that today’s cars stay on the road for a long time, so the aftermarket can connect those older vehicles.
How could those technologies improve the supply chain?
From the parts distribution end of it, communication technologies have a lot of potential to allow for better tracking of where parts need to be. You could communicate a lot of diagnostic information before the car gets to the shop. You can obtain the tools and parts way before the car is in the shop. It could also improve supply chain management as well. The issue is getting access to the data from the vehicle.
Training is going to be a key part of this, from both a part and tool standpoint. One victory we got via Right to Repair was that car companies have to have all the software and repair information in the cloud beginning next year for these new cars. So for any car on the market, the software and tools have to be in the cloud and can be downloaded onto a generic PC. That was important to us, that technicians can get the same access that the dealer has to a vehicle if they are trained properly.
How are new technologies affecting repairers?
Because of the new safety technologies, if you are doing a realignment, you have to do other types of recalibration to the vehicle to reconfigure the safety technologies. That can create challenges for independent repair shops, and every manufacturer is doing that differently.
Connected vehicles present some opportunities if the aftermarket has access. For self-driving vehicles, the jury is still out. Conceivably, the OEMs could have the cars drive right back to the dealership for repairs.
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