An avatar of an Airbus customer visits the cabin of his plane remotely while navigating the metaverse of the European giant. Airbus
Airbus is the first aircraft manufacturer to have created a virtual world dedicated to the layout of aircraft cabins. Customers can evolve there, with avatars.
Airbus is the first to implement an industrial metaverse, a virtual and structured universe, specially developed in-house, to support and advise airlines in their choice of cabin layout. This solution, which combines avatars, virtual reality headsets and augmented reality gles, is unveiled as a world premiere this Wednesday at the Paris Air Show. “ We take advantage of new technologies to offer our customers a digital solution for the layout and customization of penger cabins in 3D and remotely, before the entry into production of their aircraft. explains Anaïs Thouraud, head of digital customer collaboration for the A320 program. Equipped with an augmented reality headset, airline cabin layout managers can communicate with dedicated Airbus teams via avatars.
Tests conducted with easyJet
“ These avatars can move around inside the cabin, which is represented in its entirety and on a scale of 1. They have access to the catalog of equipment, layout options and colors offered by Airbus and its suppliers. And they can test these different proposals in order to appreciate the real rendering, which is more difficult from a small color chart “, develops Anaïs Thouraud. The solution has been tested in recent months with easyJet and the feedback is positive. Airbus plans to deploy this digital solution, by 2024-2025, across its entire range of airplanes and helicopters, starting with the A320neo family. Airbus plans to add, in addition to vision, touch (feeling the density of materials, fabrics and carpets) as soon as possible.
” Accessible from a tablet or a PC, via a dedicated and secure portal, this solution optimizes collaboration and exchanges between Airbus teams and its customers. The objective is to be more efficient, to better guide and advise our customers by providing a complementary solution to the physical and digital models of our Customer Definition Center located in Hamburg. “says the head of digital customer collaboration.
Connection to the production system
For airlines, such a solution offers many advantages. Because the cabin is an element of differentiation compared to the competition. Its layout, its color codes, the harmony between the equipment, contribute to the power of the brand with pengers, for whom all aircraft, in particular the medium-haul type A320neo, look alike. “In company, the cabin layout often leads to discussions around the brand, such as the match with the uniforms of the hostesses and stewards. By entering our Metaverse, our customers will be able to appreciate earlier the harmony between the equipment the harmony between the equipment and between the latter and the uniforms of the aircrew and better “see” what the interior of the ordered aircraft will look like before the delivery “, develops Anaïs Thouraud.
The Airbus metaverse is connected to its industrial system. It will participate in the reduction of aircraft production cycles, and in the anticipation of production programs and therefore in the ramp-up. This solution will also be used for the modernization (retrofit) of aircraft cabins already in service.
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