By John Petrucelli, Vice President of R&D and Product Innovation, Motus

Cloud and mobility solutions have converged with the on-demand economy to fuel an increase in people that drive for work, while serving other roles for their business – the food delivery driver, the regional store manager, the repair specialist, to name a few. All of these different mobile employees have unique needs that their businesses must be able to support.

Vehicle programs, meanwhile, have been slow to catch up to the new dynamic. A one-size-fits-all program is no longer the soundest approach. Despite there being several different types of mobile workers serving several different roles within a single organization, most businesses will approach those mobile workers with a single, standardized vehicle program. This approach may seem easier. In reality, it’s a disservice to your business. That extends from costs, to your mobile workers’ functionality and productivity.

So how do you determine what type of vehicle program is the best fit for your mobile workers and your business? One key consideration: mileage.

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Fortune

If a trolley threatens to run over people on one track, would you pull a lever to switch it to a track where it would only kill one person?

Around the world, a new study asked 13 variations on the trolley morality problem, involving self-driving cars and combinations of victims young and old, rich and poor, and rule followers or breakers, among others.

Carmakers are global, so they will need to use the findings at the very least to adapt how they sell their increasingly autonomous cars, if not how the cars actually operate.

Read the article at Fortune.

By eDriving

Winter weather conditions impact driver safety regardless of the experience level of the driver.

The end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) combined with decreasing temperatures leads to heightened crash risk for all drivers. Preparation is key, including looking out for other road users who might not know how to handle their vehicles in bad weather.

Here, eDriving provides safe winter driving tips for fleet, safety and risk managers to distribute to their employees who drive at work AND their families. These winter safety tips will help all drivers prepare for the hazards of winter and return home to their loved ones every day, whatever the weather.

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MIT Technology Review

The rise of ride-sharing services has increased traffic deaths by 2% to 3% in the US since 2011, equivalent to as many as 1,100 mortalities a year, according to a new study from the University of Chicago and Rice University.

How it was calculated: Researchers took statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and compared them with the dates Uber or Lyft launched in a specific city. Then they checked accident rates in those cities relative to vehicle miles traveled. That rate shot up in San Francisco after Uber launched in 2010, a phenomenon that was replicated in other cities.

Read the article at MIT Technology Review.

Chicago Tribune

Consumer Reports got more than 500,000 responses to the annual survey of its subscribers, and it uses the data from the 2000-2017 model years to predict reliability of 2019 vehicles.

U.S.-based brands fell to the bottom half of 29 brands in the rankings. Lexus and Toyota were once again at the top.

“If you’re slow to the market, you’re slow with technology, that’s the way you do get reliability and that’s how Toyota is so consistent,” Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports said.

Read the article at Chicago Tribune.

CNN

General Motors is calling for the federal government to start a nationwide program that would put more electric vehicles on the roads and turbocharge innovation.

Trump has proposed taking away the so-called California waiver, a move certain to cause lengthy court fights. GM’s plan would be modeled on California’s Zero Emission Vehicle program. Automakers would be required to sell a certain percentage of zero emissions vehicles, which are usually electric powered, or pay credits to other companies that make such vehicles.

Read the article at CNN.

Are you having a tough time trying to figure out what kind of hybrid vehicle best suits your fleet?

By Andrew Boada, Editor at Large

It’s no wonder. Since Toyota introduced the first mass-produced hybrid car in 1997 – the Prius — the variety of hybrid types has proliferated, and the field is so littered with an attendant profusion of acronyms, jargon and auto industry market-speak that sorting out the features, advantages and disadvantages can be a mind-numbing experience.

So, what we offer here is a kind of a cheat sheet that describes the kinds of hybrids in the hope of providing you with a clear vision of the current hybrid universe. We’ll start with a basic definition: What is a hybrid electric vehicle?

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Bloomberg

As regulators, technology companies and even the most conscientious road warriors struggle with the universal urge to tap out a text or tally “likes” in slow-moving traffic, state and local policymakers are finally homing in on a strategy that works.

The project includes deep and nuanced legislation, robust publicity campaigns, steep penalties and the prospect of higher insurance rates—topped off with a hefty dose of grief for those already lost

TrueMotion, a Massachusetts-based company that monitors mobile-phone use said the average American driver spends 17 percent of every trip talking, swiping or texting. Zendrive, another startup that monitors in-vehicle phone use, said the behavior is rapidly getting worse in almost every part of the U.S.

Read the article at Bloomberg.

The Detroit Bureau

New safety systems, such as blind-spot detection and forward collision warning, can help motorists steer clear of trouble, but when a collision does occur, warns a new AAA study, the cost of making repairs is likely to skyrocket.

“Advanced safety systems are much more common today,” said John Nielsen, AAA’s managing director of Automotive Engineering and Repair. “It’s critical that drivers understand what technology their vehicle has, how it performs and how much it could cost to repair should something happen.”

Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.

The Detroit News

Competition between energies has gathered momentum, even in previously untouchable markets such as transportation.

In China, the sales of electric vehicles has jumped by 75 percent. Pollution in Chinese cities has decreased and encouraging renewable power and electric vehicles as well as natural gas makes sense.

Unlike the U.S., China isn’t an oil and gas powerhouse. Its strength is in manufacturing, not extraction. China’s aversion to oil is constraining investment in new oil and gas production.

Read the article at The Detroit News.