A Car Insurance Claim Estimate Before the Tow Truck is Called

On a typical day, about 80,000 American drivers have accidents serious enough to warrant calling their insurers.

After the initial shock comes a predictable sequence of worries: Was anyone hurt? Am I at fault? The driver’s first call is often to the insurance company, which leads to the next questions: How long will it take to get an estimate, get my car into the shop and then get it back on the road?

The time it takes to settle auto insurance claims is being shortened, and the accuracy of initial estimates is improving, because U.S. insurers now use artificial intelligence to generate repair estimates.

Read the article at DNYUZ

How Technology is Transforming Fleet Management

Quotevine,

How Technology is Transforming Fleet Management, the new white paper from Quotevine, acknowledges that the sector is on the brink of an unprecedented growth opportunity.

They consider the trends that are driving growth in the industry, such as the move towards Mobility as a Service (MaaS), enhanced data integration and the rise of fleet software, are also changing the way fleets are built, managed and leveraged within a business.

“In a world of changing mobility, the corporate fleet has shown remarkable resilience... By 2021, forecasts predict that only 37% of new car registrations will come from the private market, while the corporate channel drives the other 63%². Accordingly, the fleet management business has developed into a multi-billion-euro industry in Europe,” it says, adding that “capitalizing on this moment will require a new approach from fleet providers...”.

Lyft Sketches a Future for City Streets with Fewer Cars

CNN

As Lyft's core ridehail business is pummeled by the pandemic, the company has taken a seemingly surprising step, paying urban planners to sketch out how street space can be shifted from cars to buses, bikes and pedestrians.

The plans detail how streets in Chicago, New York City and Washington, DC could have wider sidewalks, plus more bus and bike lanes. Some of the plans include details that would clearly benefit Lyft, such as adding more of its bikeshare stations and lanes for those bikes to ride in. (Lyft operates bikeshare systems in all three cities and scooters in Washington, DC.)

Read the article at CNN

2021 VW ID.4 Buyers Will Get 3 Years of Free Fast Charging

The Drive

It's impossible to launch a mainstream-aimed electric vehicle like the 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 without attracting comparison to EV segment leader Tesla.

Unafraid of being measured alongside the Tesla yardstick, however, VW will mirror Tesla's early-adopter incentive scheme, and offer three years of free fast charging to everyone who buys its electric crossover.

Drivers of the ID.4 will be able to cash in on this perk at Electrify America stations; a growing network of fast-charge kiosks backed by multiple automakers. Nationwide, Electrify America has 470 operational stations with over 2,000 chargers, many of them along a recently completed route between Los Angeles and Washington D.C.

Read the article at The Drive

Plug-in Hybrids are a ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’

BBC

Carbon dioxide emissions from plug-in hybrid cars are as much as two-and-a-half times higher than official tests suggest, according to new research.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are sold as a low-carbon alternative to traditional vehicles and conventional hybrids - which cannot be recharged from an external source - and are proving increasingly popular.

But analysis from pressure groups Transport and Environment and Greenpeace suggest they emit an average of 120g of CO2 per km. That compares with the 44g per km in official "lab" tests

Read the article at BBC