Less planning, more travel: HYMER is driving motorhomes into the digital future with Microsoft Azure

The challenge: More time for adventure

“I’d rather pick up a book than a user manual when I’m on vacation!” This sentiment is one that Frank Heinrichsen, Head of Central Marketing at HYMER GmbH, undoubtedly shares with many others. No one can switch to vacation mode with a head full of questions: Is there enough water on board? Are the batteries charged? Is the campsite booked? So how great would it be to help guide travelers through their queries—whether about vehicle technology, on-board devices, or planning and maintenance—with an app?

That’s why, in 2017, HYMER sent out a survey to its customers to find out what improvements they expect to see from digital transformation. The responses clearly pointed to a desire for more convenience: complicated technology should be intuitive to use and easy to understand. Customers also wanted to see services that were relevant to their travels. The topic of safety and security was important, too. “Mainly in the sense of monitoring a vehicle’s technical condition, but also in terms of surveillance when a motorhome is parked and left unattended,” Heinrichsen says.

While the survey was underway, the product management team was also busy contemplating an app solution. “How can we create a digital world that appeals to people traveling in a motorhome? We wanted to integrate not just the topic of the smart home, but also considerations relevant to a travel community,” says Calvin Stickelmann, Product Manager for Digitalization at Erwin Hymer Group SE. The two elements fitted together nicely: product management wanted an app solution and the company’s market research told them what was important to their customers.

With Microsoft Azure, HYMER found the perfect cloud platform to satisfy all the wishes and requirements of its customers and individual departments.

The solution: An all-in-one app based on Microsoft Azure

HYMER began with the technological implementation at the end of 2018. “We developed an edge device that enables our motorhomes to connect to the cloud and our mobile app,” says Gero Strobel, Head of Connected Mobility at Erwin Hymer Group SE. The app went live in April 2021. “Since being released for HYMER’s flagship model, we’ve been working on rolling out the solution to other series.”

IoT specialist Device Insight, a Microsoft and HYMER partner, was brought on board and developed the cloud-based IoT solution upon which the HYMER Connect app is built. It did this by integrating its own IoT components with Azure IoT components, including Azure IoT Hub and Azure Event Hubs. “By combining our ready-to-use IoT building blocks with native integration in Microsoft Azure, we were able to provide HYMER with a secure, scalable, and highly available IoT solution,” says Marten Schirge, Managing Director at Device Insight.

The result is impressive: the HYMER Connect app is unique in the motorhome market. The vehicle provides information about its technical condition: mileage, battery, fuel, water, important service intervals—by means of practical, intelligent checklists and reminders. Motorhome users can find and contact local service partners over the app. And the repair shop receives clear information about the maintenance or repair work that needs doing.

Moreover, all the devices built into the motorhome can be controlled separately using the app. “The one-click operation based on different scenarios makes this a breeze,” Stickelmann says. For example, users can create a cozy lighting environment while also turning up the heating, extending the satellite antenna, and switching on the TV at the touch of a button—evening mode. A number of similar scenarios come pre-defined, all of which can be personalized. And the app isn’t restricted to just one person: users set up an admin account with their preferred settings, but they can assign guest access to family and friends for a limited time with reduced functionality—a feature that also facilitates fleet management for professional rental companies.

Development so far has focused on data exchange, i.e. making sure users can interact with the vehicle and the installed devices over the app. This is based on Azure IoT Hub. The next development phase will look at finding a structured way of collecting and analyzing vehicle and usage data with the help of Azure Data Lake Analytics. This data will unlock new potential to respond better to customers’ wishes and behavior, offer them new services, and draw conclusions that will aid in vehicle development.

“This is, of course, possible only if we have a significant number of users,” says Heinrichsen. That shouldn’t be a problem: HYMER motorhomes from the B-Class MasterLine series, which was launched in September 2019, can be retrofitted with the edge device. It has been installed in production vehicles since October 2021. The solution will now be rolled out to HYMER’s other series, such as the Camper Vans Fiat or the Venture S.