First Big German Customer Sues Volkswagen in Diesel Affair
Germany Fish distributor Deutsche See is suing Volkswagen for misrepresenting a fleet of vehicles it leased as environmentally friendly, becoming the first major German customer to sue Europe's biggest carmaker over its diesel-test cheating.
Volkswagen already faces numerous lawsuits from individual owners, regulators, states and dealers, many of them in the form of class-action cases in the United States. This is the first case brought by a corporate customer in its home market.
Bremerhaven-based Deutsche See, which leases about 500 vehicles from Volkswagen, said it had been unable to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Data: Self-Driving Cars Need Less Human Help Than in Past
Self-driving car prototypes appear to be getting better at negotiating California streets and highways without a human backup needing to intervene, according to data made public Wednesday by California transportation regulators.
The data reflect safety-related incidents reported by 11 companies that have been testing more than 100 vehicles on public roads, primarily in the Silicon Valley neighborhoods where the technology has grown up.
The reports were made to California's Department of Motor Vehicles, which posted them online.
Doug Weichman, CAFM, to Direct Fleet Management for City of Gainesville, FL
Douglas Weichman, CAFM, has been named the new fleet management director for the city of Gainesville, Florida.
Previously, Weichman was director of the Palm Beach County, Florida Fleet Management Division.
Weichman served as NAFA’s President from 2011 to 2013 and as Immediate Past President from 2013 to the present. He is the 2013 recipient of NAFA’s Fleet Excellence Award (FLEXY) – Member of the Year.
Q&A with eDriving CEO Celia Stokes: Tackling the 94% Problem
By Janice Sutton
eDriving’s mission is to attack the “94%” problem -- 94% of collisions are caused by driver attitudes and behaviors.
In our interview with her, Celia says, "It is not about a lack of knowledge -- people don’t text and drive because they don’t know that it is dangerous to do; they do it because they lose the willpower to ignore a message that comes in or because they are late getting to their appointment, for instance. So, we are very focused on interrupting the behavior that makes someone susceptible to that message, or to speeding or to tailgating.
"One of the tools that we have introduced to help chip away at the 94% problem, is our SMART Driving Guide. We have boiled down the critical driving behaviors into 15 principles which are easy to “get” and keep in mind. If every driver keeps these 15 principles in mind they’ll virtually eliminate the risk of being in a collision."
New York City Says Uber Must Share Ride Data
Potentially setting a major precedent for ride-sharing regulation, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission Thursday approved regulations requiring companies like Uber to report detailed data on rides in the city.
Similar rules, intended to prevent driver overwork and fatigue, had previously covered licensed taxis, but will now encompass all for-hire vehicles.
Uber has mounted a campaign against the rule, mainly citing privacy concerns. The legislation would not collect information on passengers’ identity, though such data can often be reverse-engineered for user information such as gender and race. New York’s Public Advocate has also opposed the rule.
