By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

There seems to be no end to the electrical, electronic, digital gizmos and applications that promise, and mostly do, make our lives better, make us more productive, save money or all three at the same time.

But every once in a while, there comes to the fleet world a novel solution that doesn’t involve the highest of high-tech wizardry, that is elegantly simple — a better mousetrap, if you will, that is both beautifully effective and powerfully cost-efficient.

Let me introduce you to Booster. It’s a four-year-old company based in Burlingame, California, that can save a fleet tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by eliminating their drivers’ trips to the gas station. Instead, Booster will dispatch gasoline tanker trucks to any location to top off fleet vehicles’ gas tanks while they sit in a parking lot or depot or in the field.

In addition to pumping gas, Booster’s trained drivers can also make sure your tires are filled to the proper air pressure, and soon are expected to perform on-site oil changes, wash your car and even detail it, inside and out.

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By John Wolford, Vice President of Business Process, Quality, and Sourcing, The CEI Group, Inc.

Do you let your drivers decide where they get their vehicles repaired after an accident? If so, you may be opening the door to repair disasters, like:

• Low-quality workmanship.
• Inferior parts.
• Overlooked damage.
• Prolonged downtime.
• Storage costs you could avoid.
• Limited recourse.

Let’s face it – shops often compete for business on the basis of the estimates they write, and this provides an incentive for shops to low-ball their estimates.

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BBC News

Unconfirmed UK reports hint that as a part of a new emissions crackdown, new cars unable to do at least 50 miles on electric power may be banned by 2040, a ruling that would hit the UK’s best-selling hybrid, Toyota’s Prius.

If the government stipulates that all cars must be able to travel at least 50 miles on electric power, then even the performance of most so-called plug-in hybrids, which can already travel at least some distance on battery power, will not be good enough.

“Unrealistic targets and misleading messaging on bans will only undermine our efforts to realize this future, confusing consumers and wreaking havoc on the new car market and the thousands of jobs it supports,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

Read the article at BBC News.

Wired

Although Tesla’s Autopilot has been involved in two fatal crashes in the US, Tesla spokespeople have continued to say that The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found the technology to reduce crash rates by 40 percent.

Now NHTSA says that’s not exactly right—and there’s no clear evidence for how safe the pseudo-self-driving feature actually is.

Tesla hasn’t been transparent with its own numbers. “You would need a rigorous statistical analysis with clear data indicating what vehicle has it and what vehicle doesn’t and whether it’s enabled or whether it isn’t,” says David Friedman, a former NHTSA official who now directs car policy at Consumers Union.

Read the article at Wired.

The Verge

After Ashley Sehatti sold her 2015 Jetta back to a Volkswagen dealership, she didn’t understand why she still received monthly reports and hadn’t realized that VW puts the burden of disabling access to Car-Net on the customer when they decide to sell or exchange a car — even if the car is going back to a VW dealer.

You wouldn’t sell a smartphone to someone else without wiping your data, so the same should probably go for your car.

“With the advent of services like CarPlay and Android Auto and forward-thinking automakers like Tesla entering the industry, the pressure to add more technology to cars has never been higher. But oftentimes, this means legacy automakers are working with technology and speeds that they might not be used to, which has led to some bumps in the road for both companies and customers.”

Read the article at The Verge.

Consumer Affairs

A lawsuit filed by two women who say that that Uber failed to protect them from predatory drivers, is being challenged by Uber on the grounds that all consumers who sign up for its service agree to settle disputes by arbitration when they agree to the company’s “Terms of Service.”

Consumer advocates say such policies leave consumers and workers at the mercy of an arbitrator who receives a paycheck from the same corporation that consumers are trying to fight.

“Consumer groups have previously voiced concerns that forced arbitration clauses may make their way into the self-driving cars being tested by Uber and competitors. A bill currently championed by the tech and car industry, which would quickly expand self-driving car testing, may allow companies to require forced arbitration should their technology fail on car owners, car safety groups warn.”

Read the article at Consumer Affairs.

The Detroit Bureau

American drivers are looking for relief from stressful commuting and a lot of them are finding it in their cars according to the results of a new study from Volvo Cars and Harris.

Volvo commissioned the study to better understand how commuting and traffic drive stress levels amongst Americans, and what factors might help drivers decompress and find their own personal sanctuary on the road.

“Top features that would help commuters relax in the car: comfortable seats (52%), seats that optimize posture (40%), better noise insulation (31%), air filters that prevent smells/pollutants (27%), automated safety features (26%) and better selections of music, podcasts and other audio features (26%).”

Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.

The Detroit News

The General Motors partnership with Amazon provides an opportunity to generate revenue and profitability for GM, and an efficient way to deliver the online retailer’s packages to more than seven million GM vehicles.

Using vehicle and passenger data would empower automakers to collect revenue on everything from package delivery and software updates to route planning and insurance analytics to reduce costs.

“We believe that investors do not fully grasp the potential for auto companies to monetize their position as ‘landlords’ of mobile real estate and the primary owners of vehicle and passenger data,” Morgan Stanley says. “The end state of the connected car business model is that car companies are highly incentivized to keep as many cars switched ‘on’ as possible.”

Read the article at The Detroit News.

The overarching theme at its annual Institute and Exposition and International Fleet Academy

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

As usual, there were breakout sessions on scores of topics at NAFA Fleet Management Association’s annual, week-long get-together in Anaheim, California this year, but the event’s dominant theme was introduced by President Bryan Flansburg in the remarks he made to open the event: the mobility revolution.

“We are all witnessing and living through one of the biggest, most significant, changes the auto industry has ever seen,” he told more than 2,000 fleet professionals packing the hall for breakfast and NAFA’s business meeting last Tuesday. “We as fleet managers are experiencing a paradigm shift from managing assets – four wheels on the road – to a wider perspective of mobility management. “The event was held at the Anaheim Convention Center and Marriott Hotel April 23-27.

“We must get out of the mindset of ‘doing’ fleet management and consider all of the possible ways to move things, which may or may not include a vehicle,” said Flansburg. “That may sound like heresy to some of us who have been ‘doing’ fleet management for so long, but we have to change.”

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The New York Times

Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive of Volkswagen has been charged with conspiracy in the company’s rigging of diesel vehicles to feign compliance with federal pollution standards.

The charges contradict the German carmaker’s steadfast insistence that no members of its management board were involved in the emissions fraud.

“If it is proven that Mr. Winterkorn was a party to the conspiracy, Volkswagen would be significantly more vulnerable to lawsuits brought by shareholders who accuse top managers of shirking their obligation to inform them of the risks the company was taking. The shareholders are seeking some $10 billion in damages, which would be on top of the roughly $26 billion in fines and civil damages that the carmaker has already paid.”

Read the article at The New York Times.