Want Better MPG Today?
Reprogramming your vehicles' engines may be the fastest and cheapest -- and Derive can do it for you
By Mark Boada, Executive Editor
Getting better fuel efficiency is one of the fleet industry’s major goals, for two reasons: reducing its single greatest category of expense and cutting back on its carbon footprint.
There are many ways of achieving those objectives, but one of the simplest is to acquire higher-MPG vehicles as fleets retire their equipment. After all, OEMs are under a federal mandate to improve the fuel efficiency of the vehicles they sell, and every year they offer increasingly fuel-efficient powertrains of all kinds.
But there are two drawbacks to this approach: it’s expensive and slow.
Data, Dashboards and Customer Satisfaction
PARS uses smart technology solutions to bring together disparate data on vehicle delivery, storage, order volumes and more - which makes for some impressive customer satisfaction.
Cars Make Progress in Pedestrian Detection, Crash Tests Show
Automakers are making progress on technology that may someday counter the alarming increase in pedestrian fatalities, new crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show.
Six midsized-car models got top "superior" marks in the latest IIHS pedestrian-detection tests, and an additional seven were awarded the second-best score of “advanced.” Only three of the 19 models tested got the lowest mark of “no credit.”
“With over 100 pedestrians killed daily on our roadways, it's encouraging to see more automakers including this technology,” Jake Fisher, senior director of auto testing at Consumer Reports says. “While not all systems are equal, any system that brakes at all could potentially save lives or reduce the severity of injuries.”
Read the article at Consumer Reports.
Innovation and Disruption All Around
Whether you are considering creating or enhancing a telematics program for a North American fleet or a global fleet, or just wonder how it’s done, we have a terrific article for you. Bob Zimmer, PepsiCo’s senior manager of supply chain fleet technology, gives us a roadmap in How PepsiCo is Creating a Global Telematics Program.
More on telematics, now safety, in a Q&A with Ed Dubens, CEO and founder of eDriving. The company is introducing its Mentor TSP program in January and Ed gives us a peek into its powerful capabilities.
Ted Roberts is back from a week-long trip to Germany, where he met with a number of innovative companies in the automotive sector. We learn more in his first video clip: German OEMs and Startups are Getting Ready for Massive Disruption.
Drive Safety,
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
When Will EVs Outnumber Gas-Powered Cars?
Electric vehicles (EVs) have been around about as long as cars themselves.
Analysts expect sales of passenger EVs to overtake conventional internal combustion-based vehicles by 2038 (with EV sales topping 50 million a year as compared to conventional vehicle sales of 47 million by then).
With about 15 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions emanating from the tailpipes of our internal combustion cars and light trucks, and gasoline becoming more and more expensive, the inevitable switchover to EVs—despite efforts by the Trump administration to reduce national fuel efficiency standards and bolster the ailing oil industry—is going to be a win-win for consumers and the planet. 2038 can’t come too soon!
Read the article at The Environmental Magazine.
