Manheim and Fyusion Deploying the Wholesale Industry’s Most Advanced Imaging Inside the Auction Gates, Paving the Way to AI-Enhanced Condition Reports

Manheim and Fyusion have been working together for years, starting with Manheim Express in 2018, but it wasn’t until Cox Automotive acquired the computer vision leader a little over a year ago that the partnership accelerated. Now, Manheim is deploying Fyusion-powered mobile imaging at all of its locations, giving clients the highest resolution condition report images in the industry. And that’s just the beginning. Manheim has also just launched its first AI-driven fixed imaging gantry at Manheim Minneapolis—a wholesale industry first in the U.S. Together, these Fyusion-powered technologies will capture millions of vehicle images and fuel automated damage detection.

“As more cars than ever are sold digitally, Manheim and Fyusion are working to give dealers and commercial clients the utmost confidence in digital wholesale buying and selling,” said Zach Hallowell, senior vice president, Manheim Digital. “With our clients requiring more vehicle information and advanced imaging, we put our combined expertise to work to deliver the most consistent and trustworthy vehicle condition information in the industry and make viewing a vehicle online as good as standing next to the car.”

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2022 kicked off with the biggest advancements in imaging inside the gates of any auction network in the industry, including:

• Fyusion-Powered Mobile Image Capture Inside the Auction Gates:
  Each year, millions of vehicles are imaged for condition reports inside the gates of Manheim’s vast auction network. This month, the company completed the rollout of brand-new cameras for inspectors across all its locations. Boasting 108 megapixels and driven by Fyusion’s unmatched software, the cameras will provide clients with a more accurate and consistent representation of the car, delivering truer colors and significantly more detailed images. When clients zoom in on the new images, the pictures will retain the utmost clarity—enabling them to see every scratch, read manufacturer’s data on the sidewall of a tire, and view whatever interests them most in striking detail—all from the convenience of their laptop or phone. The images are so detailed that clients will be able to see the fibers of the interior carpet and even the dust on the dashboard.

• Manheim First to Deploy AI-Driven Fixed Imaging Gantry in the U.S.:
  Manheim is also giving fixed imaging a makeover with state-of-the-art gantries, becoming the first wholesale vehicle services company in the U.S. to leverage AI imaging in a fixed gantry for both merchandising and damage detection. These drive-through imaging tunnels take incredibly high resolution still images while a vehicle is in motion and will deliver even more photos, consistent and expanded camera angles, and superior lighting for exterior vehicle imaging. The AI technology does not just capture still images—it understands the vehicle in three dimensions and can assess the condition of the vehicle. The first production gantry was launched at Manheim Minneapolis, with additional gantries being built at select locations. Manheim will provide updates on these industry-leading installations throughout the year.

Beyond the immediate impact that these fixed and mobile imaging technologies will have—giving clients the industry’s best images to make informed wholesale decisions—the ultimate benefit is even better for clients. These images, along with those captured with the Manheim Express app, will be fed into Fyusion’s automated damage detection algorithm, which the brands have already invested millions of dollars in, as well as spent years training.

As the largest automotive wholesale marketplace, Manheim takes millions of proprietary vehicle images each year and has captured well over a million 360-degree captures in Fyusion’s patented .fyuse format. This massive data supply is what drives Fyusion’s damage detection efforts and will ultimately result in clients getting the industry’s most consistent and accurate vehicle condition information.

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What separates Fyusion’s imaging technology from the competition is that it sees the world in three dimensions, much like the human eye. It captures 3D images of vehicles, which it then uses for multi-angle analysis of damages. The 3D model allows the technology to understand which panel the vehicle damage occurred on and will support a 360 view of the vehicle while keeping the damage highlight attached to the right part of the car during the rotation. It is the only AI technology in wholesale that uses 3D imaging to look at vehicle damages from every angle, enabling it to judge the size and severity of damages more accurately than competing solutions that rely on old-fashioned 2D images.

This technology, combined with the wealth of data at its disposal, has allowed Fyusion to develop a powerful machine learning solution—one able to positively identify the presence of the top 20 vehicle damage types 94% of the time. The damage detection model will also automatically generate an AutoGrade condition score—yet another way Manheim and Fyusion are leading the industry.

“Fyusion’s technology, with over 80 issued patents, combined with our methodical, collaborative approach has laid a strong foundation to deliver the industry’s most advanced automated damage detection capabilities,” said Radu Rusu, CEO and co-founder of Fyusion. “This technology will give Manheim clients the utmost accuracy on damages—as well as the consistency they crave.”

Hallowell added, “There’s a lot of hype out there about AI-driven damage detection, so it’s not always easy for clients to separate fact from fiction. As part of Cox Automotive, Manheim and Fyusion are uniquely positioned to deliver results that will generate unprecedented levels of quality and consistency—and we’re confident clients will see the difference.”

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