By FMW Editorial Staff

Fleet Management Weekly sat down several weeks ago with Alex Dimitrijevic, the National Fleet Director for Reviver, to discuss the company’s digital license plate, an innovative product changing the game for registration renewals and fleet management.

Dimitrijevic, said, “Reviver is the first company in the world that has developed a digital license plate to replace the current metal license plate.

For 120+ years cars have advanced technologically, so why not the plate?”

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By Tod Trousdell, Fleet Marketing Consultant

Last year was a curious one for fleet. Fresh off pandemic restrictions and on the precipice of potentially huge changes, the industry performed a virtual sideways dance, posting similar numbers and facing nearly the same problems as it had the previous year.

There were shortages of everything from people to products, as well as supply chain issues.

But what about 2023? As in most years, it has started with big intentions and bright ideas. But will the realities of an industry in transition stop it in its tracks?

Here are five major challenges facing fleet as we begin 2023. They’re certainly not the only issues, but if the industry is going to experience another golden era, these are the issues it needs to address.

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By FMW Editorial Staff

Fleet Management Weekly recently had the opportunity to interview Adam Danielson, Director of Business Development, Supervision, a part of Solera Fleet Solutions.

The company is a leader in providing fleet-safety solutions that permit effective fleet oversight, keep drivers safe, and reduce corporate risk and liability.

There are continually growing challenges for today’s fleet, risk and safety managers. One is the dramatic increase in post-COVID vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Driving distraction remains a tenacious cause of accidents.

Finally, the costs for companies facing driver-related negligent entrustment or vicarious liability judgments grow every year.

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If you’re responsible for purchasing or leasing passenger vehicles for worker use, NIOSH says you need to consider two factors to help ensure safety: How well will the vehicle protect its occupants in the event of a crash? Which safety features are most effective in preventing a crash?

If you’re considering buying or leasing used vehicles, NHTSA provides up-to-date information on vehicle recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Another such resource is CheckToProtect.org, from the National Safety Council.

If you’re going the new vehicle route, your next step should be looking at available automated safety features, also called advanced driver assistance systems. Levels of automation range from zero (no automation) to five (full automation).

via Safety+Health

Colder climates can be a challenge for many electric vehicles to perform well in, but it’s not just the temperature causing problems for Juneau’s public transit system. 

Recurring mechanical problems have forced the Capital Transit to park their 40-foot, all-electric passenger bus in the garage for weeks on end. The issue is a faulty wiring harness that the transit agency has repeatedly tried to fix but sometimes still disables one of the bus’s two motors. The bus’s manufacturer, Proterra, still needs to supply Juneau with a replacement part.

Still, electric buses are coming to Alaska.  The city of Anchorage tested an electric bus in 2018. Smaller municipalities including Ketchikan and Metlakatla have also announced plans to add electric buses to their fleets.

via Car and Driver

When shopping for a used car on a budget, safety, for many, is non-negotiable. When you and your passengers’ lives are on the line, you don’t want to make any compromises.

How is car safety measured? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has its own safety ratings system. Its testing parameters are often seen as rudimentary. A more trusted source is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), whose tests have led to manufacturers having to increase their safety standards.

According to them, here are 10 of the safest cars you can buy for less. One affordable model that scores highly in the safety department is the Mazda3. This fun-to-drive compact is considered a “best choice” by the IIHS, not to mention often priced below $10,000.

via HotCars

Major car and tech companies think projection technology is about to become the next big thing as it expands beyond Head Up Display (HUD) in the vehicle driver’s cockpit.

In addition to taking up more visual real estate, the next-generation technology aims to “blend the real and virtual worlds.” It’d potentially culminate in a full-screen display with the capability of turning the entire windshield into a big screen TV.

As the driver selects higher levels of augmented reality (AR), the mix of virtual overtakes the physical, and the windshield can become a digital environment that blocks out the harshness of the real world. And these levels of increasing windshield takeover are technically possible, but would it be allowed?

via Road & Track

Generosity has played a fundamental role in the survival of many species, including our own. Research shows that humans are hardwired to be generous. The subject has become a hot topic in the business-strategist community.

Companies could be missing out on the potential impact generosity can have on improving the competitive advantage of organizations in business ecosystems.

As member Adam Zalisk, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Amplify, an education technology company based in New York, says, “Generosity can be as powerful a tool as direct strategic competition, when we define generosity as a sharing value among all the players in an ecosystem to best serve end-users…”

via strategy+business

Fleet Management Weekly had the opportunity to discuss LifeSaver Mobile with Ted Chen, one of the company’s co-founders, to learn more about how the company is fighting mobile distraction on the road.

How can LifeSaver Mobile change your fleet safety culture?

The phone is the biggest cause of accidents today in all drivers–not just commercial drivers. You should be looking for technologies that stop the problem from happening in the first place.

We tackle the number one cause of crashes by stopping the problem before it’s too late.

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Transportation and energy officials stress the mobility industry is in the throes of being reinvented, on a scale not seen in more than a century.

The public policy needs to be developed and coordinated with cities as well as rural areas because the needs, and even cultures, differ. The issue of transitioning EVs in rural and exurban areas is one U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also seemed sensitive to.

“Because of how electric vehicles code, politically and culturally, they might not be seen as obvious candidates for this work,” said Buttigieg, also speaking at the TRB conference, as he called to mind the somewhat caricatured image of EV drivers as well-to-do liberals on the East and West coasts.

“We really need to continue to have a strategy that fits all of these different geographies, meets them where they are,” he added.

via Government Technology