By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

A “perfect storm” is forcing government fleets to outsource an activity that the overwhelming majority still complete in-house: routine vehicle maintenance.

That’s the outlook from Steve Saltzgiver, a 30-year-plus fleet management executive who for the past six years has been a consultant with Mercury Associates, in an hour-long interview with Fleet Management Weekly. Mr. Saltzgiver had previously been the fleet manager for one city, two states and two corporations, executive director of the National Conference of State Fleet Administrators and is currently a member of the NAFA Board of Directors.

The interview came on the heels of the release last week of a report by OmniGov IQ, a fleet market intelligence company, stating that RFPs and bids for government outsourcing of routine maintenance increased by 40 percent in 2017, from 2,227 to 3,181. The report explained that as vehicles have become more technologically advanced “the work of maintaining government fleet vehicles has become more high-tech and specialized, and many government agencies don’t have specialists on their staffs that can do this work.”

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By Dr. Jan Ferri-Reed

Have you ever wondered exactly how many employees hate receiving regular performance reviews?

The answer is … probably most of them! No one enjoys receiving negative feedback and employee performance reviews are often viewed as one-way discussions leading to criticism of the employee. However, the reverse is also true.

Few supervisors enjoy conducting reviews, because most people don’t enjoy giving negative feedback either. But performance reviews don’t have to be annual “torture sessions.” With a little advance planning, you can conduct performance reviews that you and your employees find informative, useful and (hopefully) effective.

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Huffington Post

It’s a provocative move expected to result in a major legal battle.

Autoblog

Waymo’s fleet of self-driving vehicles is now logging 25,000 miles every day on public roads and has 600 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans on the road in 25 cities. It’s also adding 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace crossovers and has plans for another 62,000 Pacificas.

This newly shared goal signals Waymo is getting closer to launching a commercial driverless transportation service later this year. More than 400 residents in Phoenix have been trialing Waymo’s technology by using an app to hail self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans.

Read the article at Autoblog.

The New York Times

Autonomous cars have entered City Council meetings, political campaigns and state legislation where making decisions about what cities should build today, is unnerving some transportation planners and transit advocates.

Unrealistic hopes for driverless cars could lead cities into plans they may come to regret.

New forms of transportation like Uber and Lyft are heavily subsidized by venture capital today, and so cities that expect private services to replace public transit are counting on those subsidies, too. They’re betting that driverless cars will get here, changing the economics of transportation, before the venture capitalists lose patience.

Read the article at The New York Times.

USA Today

General Motors bought Cruise in 2016 as a 40-person startup. Today, it employs 740 people with an all-electric fleet of 180 vehicles travelling the hills of San Francisco, with 18 fast chargers in a parking garage.

For now, the Cruise AVs must have a human on board for safety for now. Its learning has made it a front-runner among competitors such as Waymo, Uber, Ford, Tesla and others to deliver on its promise to launch self-driving cars through a ride-sharing platform in 2019. GM has also quietly developed its own ride-sharing app called Cruise Anywhere and has been testing it with its employees.

Read the article at USA Today.

MSN

A national survey shows that drivers planning on buying a new or used vehicle in the next two years, are more interested in the crash-reducing safety features than the self-driving technology. Experts say the tech isn’t yet predictable enough for drivers to feel comfortable depending on it.

“These haven’t even been out long enough to have proven themselves safe, so it seems natural that drivers want to maintain control until the technology proves its effectiveness,” said Kelly Funkhouser, program manager for vehicle interface at Consumer Reports. “Consumers don’t yet think their cars are better drivers than they are—but they want their cars to help them become better drivers.”

Read the article at MSN.

Bloomberg

Mike Manley, head of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s Jeep brand since 2009, has been chosen to replace Sergio Marchionne. Marchionne had a set retirement date of April 2019, but worsening health following complications from shoulder surgery accelerated the timeline.

Manley had already been tasked with the biggest job of the five-year plan: Doubling Jeep sales volume by 2022 from the 1.4 million vehicles sold last year. He needs a 40 percent jump this year alone to meet the 2018 marker of 2 million set out by Marchionne.

Read the article at Bloomberg.

By Bernie Kavanagh

Imagine waking up one day to no fuel, damaged roads, and unknown damage to your fleet.

It’s the ultimate nightmare for a business with any exposure at all to mobility.

With the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season June 1, managers of fleets and transportation systems across the United States return to the annual game of unpredictable risk through Nov. 30, the official end of the season.

Historically, the most damaging tropical storms and hurricanes have occurred in August and September. But officials who manage fleets, fueling systems and transportation networks should be implementing best practices now in order to avoid a doomsday scenario later.

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The Detroit Bureau

At the U.S. Department of Commerce’s public comment hearing on Friday, automakers warned that Trump’s higher auto tariffs will harm American families and workers, along with the economy and would raise the price of an imported car nearly $6,000 and the price of a U.S.-built car $2,000.

“The importation of motor vehicle parts is not a risk to our national security,” said Ann Wilson, MEMA senior vice president of government affairs. “However, the imposition of tariffs is a risk to our economic security, jeopardizing supplier jobs and investments in the United States.”

Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.