A Clearwater-based company's technology is being used in one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
TeamViewer, a SaaS company focusing on remote access, has partnered with Mercedes for Formula 1 and Formula E races, most recently deploying its tech in the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month.
"It's an experience of a lifetime," said Patty Nagle, president for the Americas at TeamViewer. "When they see reality come together with the theory of how the technology can be applied, it's truly transforming the motorsport industry."
The augmented reality technology is device agnostic, meaning it can be used across phones, tablets and headsets, among other things. The end goal is to bring the best experts right to the track no matter where they are in the world.
"With race cars, the tech is so advanced — these are some of the leading engineers in the world, you don’t just have them on standby," Nagle said. "You have to bring the right person with the right issue to resolve it in an instantaneous way."
The partnership began in part due to customer crossover; TeamViewer's international headquarters is based in Germany.
"We’re relatively small for this size of a sports partnership, but there was a lot of crossover," Nagle said. "They loved the tech and saw a lot of opportunity to promote this to our C-level customers across the globe."
Mercedes joins other heavy hitters in TeamViewer's partner lineup, including Ford. TeamViewer tech will continue to be used in Formula 1 and Formula E — which stands for electric — races, including in Austin, Texas and Montreal.
"Tech is transforming the motor sport industry in a completely different way — and not just the car itself but the people," Nagle said. "It's the entire supporting ecosystem who are there, and it can make the difference between winning and losing."
TeamViewer is also focusing on the manufacturing, retail and food service spaces to further address labor shortages and boost efficiency.
"This is an early stage, nascent market; I don’t think people will understand how augmented will change the world," Nagle said. "This is a natural layer on top, helping us up-level the skills of the physical people in the field. And in our world right now, that's pretty impressive."
