ReachNow is a premium car sharing program owned by BMW, exclusively featuring select BMW and MINI vehicles, including the electric BMW i3.
The program is currently available in Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn, and operates with a smartphone app and some unique car sharing features.
Where the current program resembles other ride-sharing services like Zip Car and Car2Go, where users check out vehicles from a publicly shared fleet, ReachNow Fleet Solutions will tie a designated small fleet of vehicles to a particular apartment building, business or community.
Pictured: David Fernandes
sgfleet has acquired the Motiva Group, a UK provider of contract hire, short-term rental and fleet management services.
The acquisition follows that of Fleet Hire in August and builds further on the platform already in place. Together, Motiva, Fleet Hire and sgfleet enter the Top 20 segment of the UK contract hire market.
As the auto and tech industries pour millions into developing autonomous vehicles, some of the biggest gains will be realized by those who aren't even riding in self-driving cars.
Transportation experts see the dawning era of autonomous transportation as a chance to tame speeding cars and trucks, creating a vastly safer world for drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Apple has sent a letter to the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration providing feedback on the agency’s planned regulations on self-driving vehicles.
Though it does not fully acknowledge the existence of Apple’s long-mysterious autonomous vehicle project, widely referred to as “Project Titan,” the letter does say the company is “investing heavily in machine learning and automation,” and paints Apple as a player in the autonomous vehicle industry.
The letter, accessible here, also contains several recommendations that, if acted on, would benefit new entrants to the auto industry.
By Mike Quimby, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Element Fleet Management
If you’re a fleet manager, chances are you’re aware that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is moving forward with a new standard requiring companies and organizations to include lease obligations on their balance sheets.
“We believe that this new standard is important because it will provide investors, lenders and other users of financial statements a more accurate picture of the long-term financial obligations of the companies to which they provide capital,” said FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden in a press release.
There are two popular types of fleet leases, open-end and closed-end leases. Historically, businesses and organizations have used operating leases to keep assets off of their balance sheets, effectively treating lease payments as a rental expense. This is commonly referred to as the risk and reward method, as the lessor takes on the risks and rewards of asset ownership.
While the rule doesn’t go into effect until 2018, companies need to start thinking about how they will implement the new rules now.