By Jenn McKeogh, senior manager, GM News

Virtual reality isn’t just for the metaverse: Here in the real world at General Motors, we’re using VR to revolutionize vehicle design and production, making us faster and more efficient.

Working on the GM pre-production team, VR leader Max Sikorski offers a vivid example of how modern vehicle development is transforming.

Sikorski joined GM from Volvo Trucks in September 2021, where he worked in the Swedish automaker's North American R&D team developing augmented and virtual reality. After four years at Volvo, he took the leap to GM — which meant relocating to Michigan from North Carolina at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I loved the virtual reality work I was doing at Volvo,” he said. “But when GM called, I couldn’t say no.”

Since joining GM, Sikorski grew the VR team and helped build a full VR pre-production system — and that system is now the standard for pre-production modeling and testing in every new GM vehicle launch. The project has not only decreased the need for physical builds of new vehicles, but enabled greater accuracy early in the process.

“When I joined GM, we had one 15’ x 15’ VR station — which we call a ‘cell’ — one headset, and two employees total,” he said. “I was brought in to grow the program, and we have.”

VR in real life

Sikorski currently manages the Virtual Reality Assembly Center (VRAC) at GM’s global technical center in Warren, Michigan. The VRAC team consists of about a dozen engineers and manufacturing operators, including specialists from GM’s vehicle systems team and two research and development “geniuses” (as Sikorski calls them).

Together, the team uses VR to fine-tune product development and manufacturing processes to identify issues well in advance of building physical vehicle prototypes, which can help save the company considerable time and money.

"In the pre-CAD [computer-aided design] days, auto companies would build hundreds of prototypes by hand,” he said. “Some virtual reviews and simulations were happening in the 2010s, and by the 2020s, we moved toward VR. Now we can do more build iterations at lower cost, and we can address issues earlier in the virtual world.”

Sikorski explained that VR is set apart from computer simulations because of the vital role manufacturing operators play in the process.

“The people we put in the headsets have the skills to catch potential issues,” Sikorski said. “We’re inserting their expertise earlier while spending less money on prototypes.”

GM also uses VR to help identify potential improvements to ergonomics and safety for factory workers. By using a real person with a VR headset, they can mimic the exact motions of an operator on the assembly line.

“A completely virtual simulation might say something is technically possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s feasible or practical,” he said. “VR shows us the difference.”

What’s next

The VRAC team is continuing to find new use cases for VR: developing and validating service instructions for dealer technicians and checking vehicle configurations in our manufacturing plants — and more applications are coming.

Because of his important work in advancing VR at GM, Sikorski was recently recognized in Forbes’ 30 under 30. As technology continues to accelerate, he knows the future will be even more exciting.

“I love that I get to experiment with different technologies to solve problems,” Sikorski said. “Not everyone gets to work on the cutting edge of something, and that’s so exciting. I’m going to be there when we hit ‘Ready-Player-One' level someday.”

On the job highlights the unique and innovative roles of employees across GM, from the unusual to the unexpected. If you have someone to nominate for this series, drop us a line at news@gm.com.

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