Sofico Celebrates 30th Birthday
Global automotive finance, leasing, fleet and mobility management software provider, Sofico, is celebrating its 30th birthday – and looking ahead, says the next 30 years are likely to be the fastest-changing the automotive finance and leasing industry has ever seen.
Chief Technology Officer Piet Maes told delegates there was a shift taking place, away from vehicle ownership towards user-ship, which meant that it was no longer about the vehicle but more about the driver and the driver experience.
ARI Announces Agreement with General Motors Fleet Connected Services to Integrate Information From Embedded Telematics Hardware
Seamless telematics solution delivers enhanced visibility for fleets through the ARI insights platform
MOUNT LAUREL, NJ (October 25, 2018) ARI today announced it is teaming with General Motors (GM) Fleet Connected Services to integrate information provided by the embedded telematics hardware into ARI insights, the company’s proprietary fleet management portal, to deliver real-time visibility into the operating conditions of fleet vehicles.
The agreement with GM Fleet Connected Services offers a seamless telematics solution that provides the transparency necessary to better control operating costs and help improve productivity.
GM’s Driverless Car Bet Faces Long Road Ahead
General Motors Co and its Cruise self-driving car unit have received $5 billion in investment commitments to develop a robot taxi service that could safely navigate the city streets of San Francisco by the end of next year - putting it ahead Alphabet Inc’s Waymo self-driving car unit, Uber and Lyft.
Unexpected technical challenges - including the difficulty that Cruise cars have identifying whether objects are in motion - means putting GM’s driverless cars on the road in a large scale way in 2019 is looking highly unlikely.
“Nothing is on schedule,” said one GM source, referring to certain mileage targets and other milestones the company has already missed.
Read the article at Reuters.
Air Force Captain Struck by SoCalGas Truck Awarded $46 Million Negligent Entrustment Settlement
An Air Force captain, Jason Lo, nearly died after he was struck by a SoCalGas truck driven by Dominick Consolazio and dragged 430 feet last year has reached a $46 million settlement with the utility, his attorneys said Monday.
The lawsuit filed in March 2017 alleged Consolazio and SoCalGas should have known he was unfit to work as a driver because he suffered from epilepsy and continued to have seizures despite taking medication, including one six weeks before the collision. Supervisors also knew Consolazio went on disability leave for six months and had his driver’s license suspended following a severe seizure in 2012 not long after he worked 79 hours of overtime for the company in one week, according to the lawsuit.
Read the article at Daily Breeze.
Avis Budget Group and Ford Team Up to Connect Cars, Enhance Car Rental Experience
PARSIPPANY, N.J., Oct. 23, 2018 — To make renting vehicles even easier for customers and to improve efficiency, Avis Budget Group, Inc. today announces an agreement with Ford Commercial Solutions to connect more than 35,000 Ford Motor Company vehicles in Avis Budget Group’s U.S. fleet.
Connected vehicles allow Avis customers to manage their entire rental experience through the Avis mobile app, including choosing the type of vehicle they want to rent and extending the duration of their rental. Even returning a rental vehicle is automated with connected technology, allowing customers to drop off their vehicles through a simple tap in the Avis app.
