When it comes to the skill sets that fleet managers need today, the ability to report and communicate clearly to upper management are more important than ever.
In crash testing it's called time zero: the moment an accident begins. When we think about vehicle safety, we tend to think about what happens after time zero. Crumple zones engage. Seat belts cinch tight. Airbags erupt. And after the violence ends, ideally the passenger cell remains intact, the humans inside unharmed.
Those fractions of a second at the onset of an impact are crucial. But so are the ones that come before it. And the quest for safer cars runs in two directions—not just surviving a crash but trying to stop the clock before it ever gets to time zero.
There are apps to manage passwords, but many of us are looking past the password itself to some other means of user identification. Apple added a fingerprint system to recent iterations of the iPhone, and one new company wants to tie logins to your heartbeat.
According to Patently Apple, Ford has filed a patent application to add similar features to future automobiles. Ford envisions a vehicle equipped with sensors embedded in the steering wheel and the car seat. Those sensors would measure heart rate, temperature, and other biometric data.
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We seldom miss a chance to talk with the bright and engaging Michele Cunningham, Senior Vice President, Strategic Development at Element Fleet Management, and enjoyed our interview with her at the recent AFLA Conference. We asked her to bring us up to date on the transition from PHH to Element Fleet Management.
Michele says, “We are taking the ‘transition and then transform’ approach because our customer success is the most critical factor. We are noting lots of exciting opportunities to extend products and services and take a best of the best approach in creating Element Fleet Management out of these composite companies and really bringing our customers something special.”
Population growth, GDP growth, decline in fuel prices, and an increase in car ownership. These are the main factors that, according to a report released today by Seattle-based INRIX and the Centre for Economics and Business Research will lead, in the next sixteen years, to a 50 percent rise in gridlock costs in the U.S. In short, this means that if, in 2013 traffic congestion cost Americans $124 billion in direct and indirect losses, this number will rise to $186 billion in 2030.
Data about delays caused by congestions were based on the INRIX index: the company -- whose mission is simply ‘solve traffic worldwide’ (no less) -- collects data from more than 180 million vehicles and devices out on the road every day, in a number of ways: from satellite navigation systems, GPS in cars and trucks, information gathered by cellular carriers, and also through a devoted smartphone application.”