By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

My just-completed series on “Marketing Scams” resulted in more feedback than usual, and it is heartening to know that several executives are looking more carefully at marketing events to prove their real value.

In my August column, I wrote about a number of executive consulting groups and event companies offering “exclusive” executive events for a limited number of sales representatives to attend. The promise of meeting with key C-level decision-makers seemed too good to be true.

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By Wheels, Inc.

One of every fleet manager’s major goals is to ensure that the fleet is operating in the most cost-effective manner by identifying opportunities for cost savings which have not been fully realized.

The following pages outline the most significant factors that ultimately affect fleet costs. Information is presented in a hierarchical format, grouping items by major cost categories: depreciation, fuel, maintenance, lease funding & fees, registration & tax and collision & safety. The impact of personal use policies and charges is also addressed.

For each factor presented, we also provide a general assessment of the potential impact each factor has on drivers. As certain factors can greatly affect drivers and overall fleet costs, others moderately, and still others only slightly, we have assigned differing levels of impact accordingly.

This information can be used as a checklist to determine if all opportunities are being pursued. The ranking of potential impact, while general in nature, may help establish a prioritization of new opportunities for your fleet.

READ THE WHITE PAPER

By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

As evidenced by the increase in U.S traffic fatalities over the last two years, America’s driving environment is getting worse.

While experts have yet to reach a consensus as to why this is so, a review of the overall conditions gives some powerful clues that form a witches’ brew of factors that doesn’t portend well for the foreseeable future.

Let’s acknowledge that vehicles themselves have never been better built and equipped for safety. With crumple zones and ever-improving structural integrity, seatbelts and airbags, and an increasing array of driver-assist safety technology, automobiles do more to protect the driver than at any time in history.

It’s obvious, then, that other factors are overcoming these improvements. So, what are they?

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The Detroit Bureau

If the Trump Administration elects to rollback current and future emissions standards, 14 states plan to file a lawsuit forcing the current CAFE standards to remain in place.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced it would reopen the review period for fuel economy and emissions standards set to go into full effect in 2025. Automakers initially hailed the move by the agency, but have since said they’re in favor of the tougher mandates.

That hasn’t stopped the agency, led by former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a well-known climate-science skeptic, from moving ahead with the process.

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Wired

As the Hurricane Harvey storm system dissipates and the water it dropped recedes, Houstonians left without shelter face the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.

Many people are focused on the staggering figure of 40,000 homes lost, but another number also deserves close scrutiny: The flooding destroyed as many as a million cars in the Houston metro area.

Reliable transportation is a daily, fundamental need, almost more so in the wake of a disaster. Add in the fact that Houston is a car-dependent city, and the consequences of the destruction of so many vehicles comes into stark focus.

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Bloomberg

When Nissan Motor Co. unveiled its all-electric Leaf in 2010, the Japanese carmaker found itself uncharacteristically leading the automotive pack.

Capable of traveling 100 miles on a single charge, the car leapfrogged those from most rivals who were focused on developing hybrids—such as Toyota’s Prius—or simply squeezing more mileage out of their conventional gasoline-powered models. That head start helped turn the Leaf into the world’s best-selling electric vehicle, with almost 300,000 cars sold since its introduction.

Fast-forward seven years, and the Leaf’s early lead seems set to vanish.

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The Verge

Large vans may not be the staples of suburban family garages, but the are experiencing a resurgence thanks to new ride-sharing platforms.

Via announced Monday a $50 million investment and joint-venture agreement with Daimler to launch on-demand shuttle services across Europe, as well as to license Via’s on-demand shuttle operating system to European transit authorities and municipalities, the mobility company said in a news release.

“We are delighted to have the Daimler Group on board as an investor and strategic partner,” said Daniel Ramot, co-founder and CEO of Via.

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Fortune

A team of researchers from four American universities has provided a troubling preview of how self-driving cars could be tricked into making dangerous mistakes.

By altering street signs in ways that look innocuous to a human observer, the researchers were able to completely alter how an artificial intelligence interpreted them.

This isn’t just a matter of slapping paint across a sign. The team, whose work was first highlighted by Ars Technica, designed an attack algorithm that carefully tailors the visual “perturbations” to be applied to an existing sign.

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We are at the beginning of a revolution that could be compared to going from the buggy whip to the steering wheel — Dr. Alain Kornhauser

By Mike Sheldrick

Alain Kornhauser, Ph.D. is Professor of Operations, Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University. He is also the faculty chair of the Princeton Automated Vehicle and Engineering Group. For more than 30 years, he has been a thoughtful, insightful and often provocative thinker on advanced transportation concepts.

In 2005, Alain led Princeton’s entry in the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge, an event that many regard as the key catalyst for efforts to make robotic vehicle technology more accessible to civilian use.

While Alain offered no dates for his belief that driverless vehicles are close at hand, he articulated the compelling economics that will propel their development and adoption.

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Content Marketing Institute

Conferences are not for the faint of heart.

Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert … getting the most out of any conference is a challenge. It’s one thing to go home with a stack of notes and takeaways; it’s another beast entirely to leave with fresh relationships and meaningful connections.

Yes, the magic of conferences is in the people.

What’s a marketer to do when people are exactly what leave your head spinning: “Who should I talk to? What should I say? Where should I go? How should I follow up?”

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