FleetManagementWeekly AmeriFleet
November 28, 2017

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


Disruption!

KPMG predicts that by 2030 demand for owner-driven sedans will drop by half as autonomous cars used by ride services will dominate the market. But some industry analysts are saying that the falloff has already begun.

In Fleet Spectator, Mark Boada explains the factors behind the current trend of declining auto sales, which he predicts could lead to heftier fleet incentives as OEMs respond to the weakening sedan market.

With more and more fleets reporting to Procurement, NAFA’s two-day webinar How Fleet Management Links with Procurement in the Supply Chain could not be more relevant and timely. December 6th & 7th. This is a terrific opportunity to learn from the experts.

What to do about disruption in your business? In The Fleet CX Toolkit, Wendy Eichenbaum says, “Consumers will embrace change when the change removes the pain.”

Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief


Thought Leadership

Fleet Marketing – Guiding principles for fleet providers to improve marketing and increase sales.

Fleet Asset Management – Best practices for work truck management.

Globally Speaking — Perspectives on the Multinational Fleets

Customer Driven — Engage your organization to create customer loyalty, trust, and superior service

On Fleet Driver Management Solutions to improve your fleet’s accident rate and cut costs on collision repairs

Safety & Risk — Impactful driver safety and risk management tools and techniques.

The Fleet CX Toolbox – Solid steps to implementing and improving fleet customer experience.

Fleet Spectator — A 360 view of the fleet industry.

Talent Management – Smart guidelines to help you manage the talent in your workplace.


VIDEO: Stopping Distracted Driving and Saving Lives – Fleet Can Take the Lead

We have seen a terrifying jump in traffic fatalities and injuries in the past few years, hugely due to distracted driving. The fleet industry can take a significant leadership role in turning this trend around.



VIDEO: Throughout the Year


  AFLA Offers Educational Opportunities All Year Long
 

From webinars to regional forums to white papers and more, AFLA offers great educational opportunities for fleet professionals all year long.


VIDEO: Fleet Sustainability

  The Benefits of Fleet Sustainability Accreditation
 

Fleet sustainability accreditation from NAFA offers great benefits, and is the best way to prove the reduction of petroleum consumption and your carbon footprint.





The Fleet Spot


NAFA Webinar: How Fleet Management Links with Procurement in the Supply Chain

Take part in this two-day lunchtime webinar December 6 and 7 between 12:00-1:00 PM ET, to join NAFA procurement experts David Hayward, Kate Vigneau, CAFM®, Dianne Siebert, and Julia Pedelini, who share their experiences first hand and discover how a little procurement knowledge goes a long way.

This webinar will help you ensure your success by understanding these best practices about sourcing and how to effectively interact with your procurement departments.  Connect with the discussion on how to best operate in these waters!

Register Now!

READ MORE

Why the E-ZPass Isn’t an Easy Pass Across the Country

Wired

Any transponder should get you through any toll plaza in the United States by debiting your account – but you can’t.

In 2012 Congress passed a law, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, requiring the nation’s various electronic tolling authorities to come together and make their systems interoperable by October 2016 – that deadline passed more than a year ago.

“This hub concept makes sense because it means agencies don’t have to make peer-to-peer agreements with every other toll system they want to work with,” says Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise’s executive director and CEO.

Read more of the original article at Wired.

Registration Open for International Fleet Meeting — Geneva

Mark your calendar for the 5th Annual International Fleet Meeting: March 7, 2018, the second press day of the Geneva International Motor Show.

The organizers, fleetcompetence europe GmbH and the Swiss fleet magazine aboutFLEET, are offering a unique, English speaking platform where 250 fleet managers from all over the world will meet ambassadors from the automotive, leasing and service industry.

READ MORE

Fleet Safety’s Quiet Company, Not So Quiet Anymore

By Art Liggio, President and CEO, Driving Dynamics

Those who follow the Safety & Risk column or read my articles in other publications are aware that I see my role as delivering valuable safety and risk management concepts that readers can put into practice or challenging the norm to help leaders consider new ways to improve their fleets’ safety performance.

However, today I’m taking some latitude to reflect on Driving Dynamics’ journey, express thanks to our outstanding staff, exceptional trainers and valued partners, and to share that this quiet company is stepping into the spotlight to tell its story. Next issue I will be back to sharing ideas on driver risk and safety management!

READ MORE

Fleet Spectator


By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

When auto sales slip, car-makers roll out the incentives. And so it has been this year, and may well be for the foreseeable future, at least for some fleets and for some models.

Following the recovery from the recession that saw U.S. car and light truck sales bottom out in 2009 at 10.4 million, sales set a new all-time record in 2016 with 17.55 million units purchased or sold. But sales slumped badly through the first seven months of this year, with Detroit’s big three notching declines in July of 15% at GM, 7.4% at Ford and 10% at Fiat Chrysler. Boosted by post-hurricane replacement buys, Detroit had a great September, moving cars at an annualized rate of more than 18 million. But in October, sales edged downward again, are projected to fall further in November and are on pace to fall by around three percent to around a flat 17 million.

The trend has some industry analysts saying we may be witnessing a longer-term decline in auto sales. “There’s a pretty general consensus that [the] recent phase of elevated auto sales is coming to an end,” Tony Dutzik, a senior policy analyst at Frontier Group was quoted as saying. “Really, the question is whether it’s going to be a hiss or a pop.”

READ MORE

 

The Fleet CX Toolkit


By Wendy Eichenbaum

The tech world is famous for touting disruption to revolutionize the current paradigm. But disruption is change, which can be scary to consumers and companies.

Consumers are surrounded by horror stories. We face job loss due to automation and overseas manufacturing. Our privacy is eroded as companies track our movements online, and hackers exploit our data. And we wonder if artificial intelligence will create robots that we cannot control.

Companies fear the potential economic repercussions of change. They have sunk costs, contractual agreements, entrenched interests, and an existing corporate culture. So even if their current solution is problematic, they prefer what they know.

But not all change is scary to consumers. Consumers will embrace change when the change removes pain, when it enhances the experience. And if companies don’t keep pace with experience breakthroughs, they will fail.

READ MORE

 

Prediction: Falling Sedan Sales


The Detroit Bureau

According to a new study by consulting firm KPMG, by 2030 sedan sales will drop by half as costs for autonomous cars drop and ride-sharing services increase.

Currently, families are opting to keep larger crossovers and sport-utes in place of sedans, and the study predicts that sedan sales with drop to 2.1 million sedans annually in the U.S. by 2030 as ride-sharing services will be used for errands instead of maintaining a second car.

KPMG said it used data collected from cell phones to analyze trips in Atlanta, Chicago and the Los Angeles-San Diego metropolitan regions.

Read more of the original article at The Detroit Bureau.









Fleet Trends & Issues


Hydrogen Could Play a Vital Role in Future Mobility

McKinsey & Company

Hydrogen and batteries are often characterized as competing technologies, however the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies suggest that they should play complementary roles.

The members of the Hydrogen Council believe that by 2050 hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles could constitute up to 20 percent of the total vehicle fleet, some 400 million cars, 15 million to 20 million trucks, and around 5 million buses.

Read more of the original article at McKinsey & Company.

Tesla’s Semi-Truck and Roadster Charge Ahead

Bloomberg

Elon Musk introduced two new Tesla vehicles—the heavy-duty Semi Truck and the speedy Roadster— claiming incredible range and charging numbers that would require either advances in battery technology, or a new understanding of how batteries are put to use.

Musk vowed the Tesla Semi would haul an unprecedented 80,000 pounds for 500 miles on a single charge, then recharge 400 miles of range in 30 minutes, requiring a charging system that’s 10 times more powerful than one of the fastest battery-charging networks on the road today—Tesla’s own Superchargers.

“I don’t think they’re lying,” said Sam Jaffe, battery analyst for Cairn Energy Research in Boulder, Colorado. “I just think they left something out of the public reveal that would have explained how these numbers work.”

Read more of the original article at Bloomberg.

Autonomous Trucking May Eliminate 300K Jobs

USA TODAY

Logistics and trucking companies are looking down the road at cutting costs and speeding up delivery times when truck drivers no longer become necessary, and by extending the hours that commercial trucks can be kept in operation.

“Goldman Sachs economists predicted that trucking will shed about 300,000 jobs per year starting in about 25 years. That may begin sooner than anticipated if automated trucking clears government hurdles and technology innovations—and becomes widely adopted by trucking companies.”

Read more of the original article at USA TODAY.

 

Will Uber Customers Choose to Look the Other Way?

The Detroit News

While Uber’s problems such as workplace sexual harassment, drivers with criminal records and other past infractions are serious, the convenience factor may not make customers upset enough to delete the app.

In the recent data breach, hackers got only rider names, email addresses and telephone numbers. For about 600,000 drivers in the U.S., hackers got driver’s license numbers, and the company has offered them free credit monitoring services.

“We have a short memory as consumers,” Marlene Towns, a professor at Georgetown University’s business school said. “We tend to be if not forgiving, forgetful.”

Read more of the original article at The Detroit News.

Autonomous Vehicles


Fortune

Apple has posted its first public research about self-driving cars, revealing a new way to use LiDAR technology called VoxelNet.

In theory, the technology would make it easier for autonomous vehicles to determine the location of objects, including things like cyclists and pedestrians, to better avoid them.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has called self-driving cars “the mother of all AI projects,” but the company has yet to disclose Apple’s plans for the technology.

Making the research public suggests that the company is ready to be more forthcoming with its plans, and perhaps seek advice and feedback from other researchers working in the field. The move may also potentially entice potential hires in the autonomous vehicle space to consider joining Apple over its competition.

Read more of the original article at Fortune.

 

Reimbursement and Liability Protection


By Mark Boada, Senior Editor

A surprisingly large – even shocking – number of fleets that reimburse drivers for using their own vehicles for business are leaving themselves open to millions of dollars in accident liability judgments and aren’t keeping a close eye on fuel costs. Those are the two big take-aways from our recent interview with Dillon Blake, senior director of business development at Runzheimer International Ltd., the privately held mobility management company based in Waterford, Wisconsin.

Blake said he finds it “mind-boggling” that more than a third of the fleets the company surveyed for its latest Workforce Mobility Report don’t even have a driver policy in place. Additional report findings:

READ MORE about Runzheimer’s insights into fuel expense and safety management practices and solutions.

 

Pokemon Go


The Verge

In the first 148 days after the Pokémon Go game was released in July 2016, Tippecanoe county in Indiana suffered a total value from injuries, damage, and the two lives lost of between $5.2 million and $25.5 million.

Purdue University economists Mara Faccio and John McConnell combed through accident reports and determined that during those 148 days, 286 additional crashes occurred in the county, compared to the same period before.

“By looking at the numbers, the economists realized that the number of crashes was much higher near pokéstops than gyms, suggesting that the crashes really were caused by people hopping out of cars while playing the game. The increased number of deaths wasn’t just because more people were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Pokémon Go was actually causing people to be stupid.”

Read more of the original article at The Verge.

 








Fleet Management Resources
 
AFLA – Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association
Providing the advanced forum for corporate fleet professionals to network with industry leaders.
The CEI Group Inc.
CEI is North America’s largest provider of fully integrated fleet accident management, driver safety and risk management services.
NAFA Fleet Management Association
NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.
AmeriFleet
Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.
Donlen
Since 1965, Donlen has been the fleet management industry’s leading provider of comprehensive, integrated financing and asset management solutions — and that spirit of innovation continues today.
PARS
PARS' mission is to provide you with high-quality service at competitive prices for all of your transportation needs.
ARI
Driven fleet professionals. Driving results.
Driving Dynamics
Driving Dynamics was established to help corporate fleet drivers develop expert, safe driving skills using proven, advanced driving techniques.
Wheels, Inc.
First in fleet for 78 years. Wheels helps you build tomorrow’s fleet today.



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