Skillmaker.ai, an extended reality (XR) workforce development startup based in Carolina Beach, has been named the 2025 NAPA Auto Care Strategic Partner of the Year.

The startup first partnered with NAPA Auto Care in 2024, and was the company’s first client, according to founder and CEO Robin Cowie.

Skillmaker.ai employs an immersive XR training program to accelerate entry-level automotive technician training. According to the company, the program has reduced entry-level training time from two years to just 25 days. 

“There is a crisis regarding the number of skilled, trained automotive technicians available,” said Cowie in an email to the Business Journal. “However, what is truly needed are the more skilled ‘A’ and ‘B’ level technicians. Skillmaker is working to both increase the number of young people entering the auto repair technician market and support and accelerate the abilities of older, more skilled technicians.” 

Cowie emphasized that Skillmaker.ai is not solely focused on training, but also on improving overall productivity. According to Cowie, Skillmaker.ai employs a retrieval augmented generation (RAG) framework for its AI integration, which includes a “grounded, vectorized database as the base of information.”

“This is a fairly well-established process that eliminates hallucinations and creates very accurate answers using video, images and text,” Cowie said. “While we utilize cutting-edge, frontier-level AI techniques, we also use a significant amount of data science unrelated to AI, as it is critical that training and productivity are 100% accurate.”

In April 2025, NAPA Auto Care and Skillmaker.ai announced the NAPA Autotech Xccelerator workforce program, which aims to address auto technician shortages through an accelerated training program. It will launch at the Vision Expo, an automotive training event in the Kansas City, Missouri area, on March 6 to 7, according to Cowie.

“Skillmaker identifies the 20% of skills needed to be a technician that are used 80% of the time,” said Cowie. “We also identify the 10% of items that are safety-essential. This combined 30% is then used in a headset XR training program. The remaining 70% is used in smart glasses that allow the technician to learn in the flow of work. This means that technicians become productive far faster than in the past.”

Additionally, Skillmaker.ai is in the early stages of working with AAA, Goodyear and Ford, Cowie said. According to its website, the company has also previously partnered with FedCap Inc., a workforce development nonprofit, and Automotive Service Excellence, a professional certification group. 

Skillmaker.ai is at the end of its pre-seed funding round and will close with $5M in funding, according to Cowie. Skillmaker.ai previously announced the close of its $2.5M re-seed funding round in August 2025, with a filmed announcement at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.