Renault, one of the world’s largest automakers, has launched the first industrial metaverse. Through its metaverse, the car-making company will save $330 million by 2025. The cost-savings measures include 60% reduced delivery times and a 50% reduction in its vehicle production carbon footprint.
Renault’s industrial metaverse focuses on four dimensions: the mass collection of data, a set of digital twins for all Renault factories, an extended ecosystem that includes supplier data and sales forecasts, and advanced technologies like the cloud, 3D, and Big Data. In the system, all dimensions work together to give Renault a real-time virtual look at its factories and enable the company to avoid problems.
Jose Vicente de los Mozos, EVP, said that the company collects a billion data points every day within Renault sites. The industrial metaverse provides “real-life supervision” that improves a variety of Renault operations, including the quality of production and the supply chain. According to Vicente, Renault is a pioneer in the space, as it is the first company to produce a full-fledged industrial metaverse.
The Renault industrial metaverse allows employees to take center stage as well and make decisions based on concrete data. This happens through a VR process and gaming tech that makes user experiences more immersive. One example Renault’s press release gave was of “painting training” carried out in virtual reality.
Aside from the industrial metaverse, Renault is also a pioneer of electric vehicles in Europe. It leverages technology, energy, and mobility to produce innovative vehicles in the automotive industry. While its industrial metaverse may not be aligned with the public’s view of a metaverse, it does have plusses, especially for companies looking to improve internal processes.
Companies Invest in the Metaverse
The metaverse has many connotations, and people typically believe it to involve avatars in a decentralized world. But the industrial metaverse is something entirely different. Here are three stories involving it in 2022.
First, there is Japanese company NTT Docomo. About a month ago, it revealed it was investing $412 million in a metaverse unit. The goal: to develop new technologies surrounding mixed reality. It also will focus a part of the funds on digital twins, an important part of the industrial metaverse.
Second, there is NVIDIA. In September, the company best known for producing graphic chips unveiled its Omniverse Cloud Services to help other companies navigate Web3 waters. As seen in our story today, cloud services may become an integral part of the industrial metaverse, helping companies store data.
Third and finally, there is the partnership between NVIDIA and Siemens. Four months ago, the two companies partnered to create an industrial metaverse based on the Siemens Xcelerator and the NVIDIA omniverse. A goal of the partnership is to help companies analyze their product lifecycles using digital twins.
Renault’s new industrial metaverse should pose great promise for companies looking to enhance their processes. And if it succeeds, we may see other companies follow suit.