By Bernie Kavanagh, Senior Vice President & General Manager, WEX Fleet

With 28 years in the fleet business, I’ve observed how technology has evolved and expanded to meet the diverse needs of businesses with vehicles.

But as we dive into the second half of 2019, one thing is plain: The pace of change in fleet is as fast as it’s ever been… and as slow as it will ever be.

In the span of about three weeks this summer, WEX rolled out payments for EV charges to its 11 million US fleet card holders, doubled its mobile payments network to 25,000 accepting sites and pondered what will happen “When the Car Becomes the Card” at an automotive tech conference in Southern California.

As work to connect the vehicle – and all its data — to your back office continues, the job becomes one of connecting dashboards, giving you an ever-more complete view of your fleet as it operates, visually, in real time.

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More than 60 percent see autonomous trucks going mainstream within 10 years

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

Keeping up with rapid changes in automotive technology is the greatest challenge facing the transportation industry this year, according to a survey of 120 fleet managers conducted by TD Bank at the NAFA Fleet Management Association Institution & Expo held in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this year.

Some 52 percent of the respondents identified technological change as their biggest challenge, compared to 21 percent who said it’s the driver shortage. These concerns dwarfed others that have grabbed headlines recently: just 13 percent said their biggest worry is a potential economic slowdown, while only 8 percent pointed to disruption caused by e-commerce, and 6 percent said it is changing foreign trade policies.

“The transportation industry is on the brink of a major transformation,” said Anthony Sasso, Head of TD Equipment Finance at TD Bank. “Traditionally, the industry has been defined by trucks and infrastructure, but the use of mobile devices, GPS and electronics have revolutionized logistics.

“Looking ahead, we anticipate that transportation companies will invest heavily in innovation to help fleets optimize routes, better track inventory and produce more fuel-efficient and driverless vehicles.”

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One last mile delivery service fleet achieved a stunning 81 percent reduction in collisions

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

The war against distracted driving has largely focused on cell phones and fleets have taken a variety of approaches to prevent it, from changing their policies to ban cell-phone use, to intensive messaging on its dangers, classroom and online driver training, and cell-phone blocking technology. To some extent or another, they all may have some effect, and all fleets need to pursue them. One big problem, though, is that using a cell phone to talk or text isn’t the only form of distraction.

In fact, distracted driving long predates the advent of digital technology. Before cell phones and lap top computers, there were many other actions that could take a driver’s eyes off the road long enough to lead to a collision, and all of them still exist. These include, but are not limited to, adjusting radio and climate controls, reaching for objects inside the cabin, reading, eating, grooming, talking to passengers, drowsiness, or simply gazing at the passing scenery.

One thing going for fleets that ban cell phone use while driving is that when someone is on the phone, there’s a record at the service provider that can be checked.

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AAA NewsRoom

Vehicle escape tools are intended to aid occupants in exiting their vehicle in an emergency by breaking through side windows and cutting through locked seat belts.

This study by AAA evaluates the performance of common consumer-grade vehicle escape tools to inform drivers about how, when and why they should be used. In addition, it examines the use of laminated glass for automotive side windows and how it could impact an occupant’s ability to escape during an emergency.

Read the article at AAA NewsRoom.

The Guardian

Nobody recommends driving while high.

Alcohol makes drivers more aggressive and accident-prone, while drivers who are high are more likely to drive too slowly. Studies by NHTSA suggest this is broadly correct.

While it’s generally illegal to drive while high, it’s not clear if stoned driving is a serious problem.

Read the article at The Guardian.

The New York Times

The availability of convenient home charging equipment and high-tech roadside charging facilities will make electric driving more practical.

Over 80 percent of electric vehicle owners charge at home, taking advantage of low, stable residential electricity rates. Since most electric vehicle owners don’t drive over 200 miles on a normal day, the battery isn’t fully drained by evening. Refilling it on a Level 2 charger can take just a few hours.

Read the article at The New York Times.

By Adlore Chaudier, Associate Vice President, Mercury Associates

The rapidity with which technological advancements occur and studies produce important insights increasingly requires professionals to invest significant time in continuous education. Fleet managers are no exception.

Failure to make such an investment will inevitably result in falling short of achieving job goals and objectives and present an unnecessary barrier to professional advancement and personal success.

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SFGate

Several carmakers and technology companies have concluded that making autonomous vehicles is going to be harder, slower and costlier than they thought.

About 80% of the technology needed to put self-driving cars into routine use has been developed, but the remaining 20%, including developing software that can reliably anticipate what other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists are going to do, will be much more difficult.

The technology is available now to create a car that will not hit anything. But such a car would constantly slam on the brakes.

“You see all kinds of crazy things on the road, and it turns out they’re not all that infrequent; you have to be able to handle all of them,” Argo Chief Executive Bryan Salesky said. “With radar and high-resolution cameras and all the computing power we have, we can detect and identify the objects on a street. The hard part is anticipating what they’re going to do next.”

Read the article at SFGate.

The Washington Post

Tesla is promising to launch “full self-driving” capabilities to hundreds of thousands of cars through an over-the-air update as soon as this year.

Regulators, auto industry executives, safety advocacy group leaders and autonomous-vehicle competitors are concerned that Tesla’s plan to unleash robo-cars on the road on an expedited timeline could result in crashes, lawsuits and confusion.

“By the middle of next year, we’ll have over a million Tesla cars on the road with full self-driving hardware,” with the ability to find the vehicle owners, drive them to their destination and park the vehicle, Elon Musk said at Tesla’s Autonomy Investor Day in April. It will be at “a reliability level that we would consider that no one needs to pay attention … meaning you could go to sleep.”

Read the article at The Washington Post.

By: Ben Langley, Director of Training Development and Innovation at Driving Dynamics

Maintaining a safe fleet is an ongoing process and there’s no one-size fits all solution for improving drivers’ skills and behaviors.

And it’s certainly not uncommon to believe that training and coaching are interchangeable forms of instruction. However, while different, both methods are necessary for reducing incidents, injuries and fatalities, because each has its strength when it comes to addressing specific aspects of driving safety. Understanding the distinction will positively impact the effectiveness of your driver safety program.

The drivers in your fleet have different backgrounds, life histories, and are at different levels of driving experience and each company also has its own unique set of circumstances. All these factors can help determine when training or coaching courses or a blend of both, is the right fit for your organization and the best approach for addressing specific driver deficiencies and enhancing overall competencies of the fleet. Consistently educating drivers of all experience levels and reinforcing safe driving skills and behaviors assures that your fleet will have a strong foundation of safety.

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