At GM global headquarters, the self-driving Cruise AV was displayed. GM hopes to mass produce the car for a driverless taxi fleet in a yet-to-be-named city that would launch sometime next year.
Last week a request was filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to deploy the car, which doesn’t have a human at the controls for steering, accelerating or braking.
"If NHTSA grants GM’s request, the automaker could build up to 2,500 per year, but GM said it is not committing to production volumes at this time. A GM spokesman said Wednesday it’s likely they will be built at the Orion Assembly plant, where the test Cruise AVs are built, but the automaker is not committing to anything yet."
Read the article at The Detroit News
For folks who are new to fleet, industry icon Mike Pitcher has some good advice on ways to get up to speed.
The risk of a weather-related crash may be higher for teens due to their limited driving experience and tendency to engage in distracting activities behind the wheel.
There are several steps parents can take to help ensure teen drivers stay safe on the road.
“When winter weather starts rolling in, there are a number of things that drivers, especially teen drivers, can do to help prep their vehicle for snowy and icy roads,” Mike Sample, lead driving safety expert and technical consultant at Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Read the article at Consumer Affairs.
At the Detroit auto show, Canadian tech company BlackBerry Ltd. introduced a new cybersecurity software product called BlackBerry Jarvis, designed to help automakers protect their cars from computer hackers.
A modern car has more than 100 million lines of computer code and as more is added to improve cars and make them autonomous, they will be more vulnerable to cyberattack, said John Chen, the company's executive chairman and CEO.
"In our independent study, Jarvis delivered excellent efficiencies in time-to-market, significantly reducing the time to security assess code from thirty days to seven minutes," Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement. "The productivity delivered by Jarvis combined with BlackBerry's trusted security heritage can transform vehicle safety.
Read the article at The Detroit News.
We welcome back Wendy Eichenbaum to keep us on our CX and UX toes in 2018! Wendy writes the popular ‘Fleet CX Toolkit’ column and this month Wendy asks: “Would Your Customers Recommend You?” Happily, she shows us the way to improve customer loyality metrics, turn Detractors into Promoters, and hike future revenue.
For a look into the 2018 trends predicted for global fleets, catch the interview with Dr. Jörg Löffler, CEO of Munich-based Fleet Logistics. Among the key trends, Löffler talks about ramifications of the decline of the diesel-powered vehicle, long the choice for European fleets, and the rise of mobility management.
Nominations for NAFA's prestigious FLEXY Awards have been extended until this coming Friday, January 26th . It is such an honor to be nominated (and a thrill to be a winner!). Nominations are easy. This is your last chance to put forward that special fleet professional!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief