Spotlight on…

MOT Technology

In Italy the equipment is fully modernised and computerised, and links in directly to the Government’s MOT computer – yet isn’t yet even planned for in Britain.

With modern technology moving ahead faster than you can blink, even the very latest British MOT equipment is now ‘behind the times’. Here, in Spotlight on… we put ‘MOT technology’ under the spotlight. But even with the most ‘up-to-date’ equipment, there’s a snag; the detailed ways the DVSA (previously VOSA) insist that those MOT Testing Lanes are placed and spaced – millimetric clearances, precise measurements and restrictive regulations – can seriously inhibit slick, efficient and productive MOT Testing. First though, let’s hear Garage Equipment Association Chief Dave Garratt’s vision for future MOT Testing Lanes.

Fully integrated ATLs – a vision of the future…

Garratt has been talking to both DVSA (ex-VOSA) and members of the MOT Trade Forum about current and future trends in developing fully computer-linked ‘smart’ MOT Testing lanes. He now shares his vision with our readers…

Here’s a question: “What could the Test Lane of the future look like?” Well maybe the first question should be: “what’s wrong with the test lanes we use today and do they need updating?” Well, yes, they do their job but… The equipment is outdated and comes from the PC age of the 1980s, and is unable to take full advantage of today’s technologies.

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The 1980s… PC linked and ‘menu’ driven

Let me explain – any complex equipment requiring a step-by-step procedure to operate, was ‘automated’ back in the nineteen eighties. This was because personal computers had became affordable and if you were in the garage equipment industry and wanted to develop an automatic brake tester, or a gas analyser that guided the operator, the PC offered the perfect solution with its ‘procedural’ menu. So today most UK Automated Test Lanes (ATLs) incorporate the following two, if not three types of PC based equipment:

An exhaust gas analyser (EGA) – using a PC display, to guide the operator through the Test and to house a database containing the recommended pass/fail limits provided by the vehicle manufacturers.

A diesel smoke meter (DSM) – also with a PC display and user interface to guide the operator through the Test. These days, however it might be a combination unit, which uses one PC for both the EGA and DSM.

An automated brake tester, incorporating a PC display which guides the operator, also with a database of vehicles tested, and the Test results.
Another type of processor based equipment which could have been on this list is the electronic headlamp aligner. In the UK however, the headlamp check has never been automated and electronic assessment of the beam pattern is not permitted by VOSA (now DVSA). In fact the next update of equipment should, most likely, permit electronic assessment of headlamps.

Internet linked equipment

But equipment technology is changing; and the big ‘thing’ behind that change is arguably, the biggest driver of change on the planet – the internet.
For MOT Test lanes, using individual stand-alone PCs is fast becoming a road-block to improved productivity. Problematically, ‘stand alone’ kit needs its software updated every time a ‘test-limit’, or ‘procedure’ is changed by the DVSA or the EU, these days, however, we expect our gadgets to update automatically via the internet, storing data in the ‘Cloud’. So why couldn’t MOT Test equipment do the same? – The answer’s simple. It could, and it should!

The problem is that each individual piece of equipment would need an IP address together with a Wi-Fi or a 3G account. But low volume sales of test lanes sold makes it uneconomic for most stand-alone equipment.

But with a complete test lane, it starts to make perfect sense. For example, if a test lane had just the one PC with an internet connection, then all other equipment in the lane could communicate via that PC, and the internet directly, sending data to the Testing authority’s (that’s DVSA’s) cloud based server. So the equipment wouldn’t need a database or have to store test results; these could all be retained by DVSA, and any changes to test limits could be set by them directly. This immediately removes the need to update thousands of gas analysers or roller brake testing machines every time tests limits or procedures changed. That would be very cost effective to Testing Stations.

Falling behind…

Many of the testing authorities around the world already do this, the most recent being Italy, which has just introduced the automatic test lane known as ‘MCTC net 2’, an evolution of their existing MCTC net 1, installed in 2002 in all Italian ‘MOT’ Test centres. In comparison Britain is well behind the running.
Italy’s system provides the following advantages:

• All major test equipment is connected to one central PC in the test centre.
• It improves data exchange by generating an electronic test record for every vehicle, which is sent to the government for analysis, monitoring and supervision.
• It includes a camera to photograph the vehicle under Test, providing automatic recognition.
• The single PC automatically collects all Test results, vehicle data and pictures to generate a file that is exchanged with the MOT central computer.

So, in answer to the question I started with, Test lanes of the future will have all the equipment networked together, sending data directly to the DVSA via the internet. There need only be one PC or tablet, and a video camera providing number plate recognition so vehicle data is automatically captured as the vehicle is driven onto the Test lane. The cost of the lane would be similar to today’s cost, but with only one PC, which of course, would replace the current VTS device.
Recently the DVSA set up a meeting with members of the MOT Trade drawn from a wide spectrum of interests to ‘float’ their latest ideas for a ‘modernised’ MOT Scheme. Their vision is firmly based on an internet solution for future MOT Testing – so there’s no reason why British MOT Test lanes can’t move ahead with the times as well.

When Dave wrote this piece, the MOT Trade were told the web-based system was on ‘deadline’. However since then things have slipped and by September 2015 only a rudimentary system will be available. Clearly this means that Dave Garratt’s vision will inevitably fade even further into the future… Ed

MOT Computerisation 2015

Unless those in charge of the MOT, Claire Perry
from the DfT (left) and Alastair Peoples, Chief Executive
of the DVSA (right) re-structure the fee to either prevent,
or inhibit discounting so that Testing Stations can make
a profitable return on capital employed so that they are
able able to purchase new equipment, then MOT
Modernisation just won’t happen…

We like Dave Garratt’s vision for the future of MOT Test Lanes, but there’s a problem – the DVSA! For Garratt’s ‘vision’ to happen, they must adopt appropriate systems and protocols for the new internet-based MOT Computer in 2015 to communicate directly with the Test equipment via the Test Station’s single computer, be it a PC, laptop or tablet – or at the very least to ‘future-proof’ the system so that it can be done in due course.

Unfortunately however, the DVSA and the MOT Trade do not have the same priorities. The primary 2015 ‘objective’ for the DVSA is to set up an internet-based consistently reliable MOT computer system in the most economic way. That the protocols and procedures will allow Testing Stations’ equipment to operate more efficiently and effectively with respect to equipment interfacing with the MOT computer is not the highest priority. And, from what we have heard at MOT Testing, whilst the DVSA will attempt to develop a suitably adaptable computer system, it might not happen. So possibly, the biggest ‘road-block’ to British Testing Stations using the most up-to-date equipment, with the best technology as envisioned by Dave Garratt, may be the Government itself!

Enabling Testing Stations to improve efficiency and productivity, the Government might argue, is entirely for Testing Stations to set up and fund for themselves. But that is a ‘cop-out’; as soon as the MOT becomes internet based, MOT equipment and the MOT computer should all become components in a seamless integrated system – which should not be ‘road-blocked’ by the Government’s inadequate ‘IT’ side of the equation! The guys at the DVSA are keen, as are Senior Officials at the DfT – sadly though, politicians may not share that view.

Minimal operational flexibility

Anybody new to MOT Testing is always surprised, often shocked, at the extent of detailed and numerous rules and regulations laid down by Government for the MOT Scheme. It is a jungle of largely unnecessary red-tape, and arguably at its worst when setting up an MOT Testing lane. There must be minimum clearances between pieces of equipment, and between equipment and walls and so on. Yes, there are so called ‘grandfather rights’ for pre-existing Test Stations who cannot comply without building work, but in fact they could be unilaterally withdrawn at any time – potentially resulting in the closure of thousands of smaller businesses with restricted premises.

Yet why should the Government be directly involved at all? These silly rules could all be swept away. Just two simple questions need to be asked, and have a “yes!” answer:

In engineering terms does the MOT Test Lane enable the conduct of a satisfactory MOT inspection for a given class of vehicle?

Is the MOT Test Lane safe to use for the MOT inspections being conducted?

Why not just make sure that equipment suppliers are qualified to answer these questions when installing MOT equipment? They are the experts after all; and if DVSA want assurance they are ‘up-to-scratch’, then just insist those suppliers’ employees are properly qualified, and have professional indemnity insurance so they’re covered if they get it wrong – and are also members of the Garage Equipment Association who could arrange the insurance for members as part of their membership fees – easy… and at a recent joint meeting with the Trade, DVSA staff suggested that this is how they see the longer term future too.

What’s happened to the ‘Red-Tape Challenge’?

Government were going to get rid of swathes of ‘red tape’. “one new regulation in, one must go out” was their mantra. Perhaps the DfT actually significantly reducing the current detailed nit picking requirements about MOT equipment would be a way of really rising to that Red Tape Challenge. With a new internet based computer system for 2015, wouldn’t that be a wonderful opportunity to really rise to that ‘Red Tape Challenge’? Hopefully, those responsible at the DVSA will scrutinise the myriad nit-picking regulations in the Manual and the Guide, and sweep away those that don’t contribute directly to either a better MOT Test or a way of better carrying out a Test to improve productivity. Less red-tape, valuable economies at the DVSA, improved productivity at Testing Stations, and a better product with a slicker service to motorists. Looks like a ‘no brainer’ to us!

Then there’s the EU…

The most startling difference between modern cars and those of just a couple of decades ago is the degree of computerisation – and especially regarding safety related systems. Adaptive cruise control, traction control, tyre pressure monitoring, adaptive electric power steering. All of these systems have a ‘safety related’ dimension, which should be MOT Tested. Currently, however, the EU trend is to rely on whether or not a warning light is ‘on’ or ‘off’ to decide ‘pass/fail’.Yet that light, is just as much part of the system which needs Testing, as the computer controlled safety related system itself! The only ‘proper’ test is to use a scan tool.

Unfortunately though, EU legislators are strangely reluctant to insist on the use of scan tools to check such computerised systems – why is that? Well, we can only speculate, but persuading car manufacturers to part with their ‘secret’ protocols to develop a scan tool is probably the biggest obstacle. They have huge influence in the EU, and especially so in Germany, increasingly the political European epicentre.

Later note: The EU have included a ‘scan tool option’ in some of their latest regulations, but only in very limited and currently unlikely circumstances. They have also suggested that the diagnostic protocols should in that case be made available by Vehicle Manufacturers (VMs) either for free(!), or at a “reasonable” price. Unfortunately experience shows that VMs’ idea of “reasonable” is somewhat different from everybody else’s. Ed

It gets worse – there’s no ‘harmonisation’ between EU rules on vehicle design and construction, and those on MOT Testing. So new cars can, and are, designed and used on EU roads with electronically controlled safety systems which cannot be properly Tested during an MOT – I wonder if our Government is lobbying for that within the ‘corridors of power’ in Europe…

And finally… modernisation will cost VTSs money – and where’s that coming from? Until something’s done about the fee, and improving MOT Testing profitability, nothing will happen.

Since this article was written the DVSA have run into difficulties with the new web-based system. So the chances of any such adaptability for the future is very remote. Ed