Toronto, Ontario — Collision Repair magazine was invited to Hunter Engineering’s Canadian headquarters in Aurora, Ontario, last week to witness a demonstration of the new Ultimate ADAS technology—which is said to be capable of solving three calibrations in under ten minutes.
At the start of his demo, Jon Donato of Hunter Engineering stressed that using traditional methods of calibration with strings, plumb bobs and tape measures, the three calibrations performed could take more than 60 minutes to set up.
“Today, our goal is to do that in less than ten minutes, using Hunter Engineering’s Ultimate ADAS.”
Donato began with the first step in any calibration—ensuring the vehicle has a proper wheel alignment.
“Not only does Ultimate ADAS provide safety system calibration solutions; it is also a fully-functioning Hawkeye Elite alignment machine,” said Donato.
Next, Donato and Ross Iacobellis from Hunter Engineering began a right blind spot monitor calibration. Ultimate ADAS first checked the vehicle for height and reported its findings back to the operating tech.
Donato then confirmed that the Ultimate ADAS laser was dead centre with the vehicle; then an operating tech set fine adjustments to associated calibration targets. With the press of a button, a red laser locks in calibration adjustments with less than one-millimeter accuracy.
“You cannot move to the next step until the technician completes all of the necessary steps,” stressed Donato.
A radar fixture would then be used to complete the process and send the information to the cloud. When the demo finished, the clock read two minutes and 46 seconds.
“Add a minute for the radar fixture, and we’re in at under five minutes, leading to a time reduction of greater than 80 percent.”
Donato moved on to demonstrate a front-camera calibration. When he deemed the calibration complete, the stopwatch read four minutes and 20 seconds.
“Add a couple extra minutes, give or take, for scan tool, and you’re at about six minutes. I’ve seen this done the traditional way, and it’s a long process. Technicians are crawling across the floor; strings, plumb bobs everywhere…”
Finally, Donato and the Hunter team demonstrated a right surround-view calibration, which they said was completed in one minute and 43 seconds.
You can learn more about Hunter Engineer’s Ultimate ADAS system here, or subscribe to the Industry Insider podcast for our upcoming session with product expert Ross Iacobellis for an in-depth discussion.
