How GPS Came to Be — and How It May Be Altering Our Brains
A history of GPS examines the costs of relying on it.
In Pinpoint: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds, Greg Milner tells two stories. One’s about how the Global Positioning System became one of the 21st century’s most important technologies. The other’s about how it may be stunting the brains of the ingenious species that created it.
We use GPS today to guide airplanes, ships, and tractors. It keeps tabs on sex offenders and helps find oil deposits. “GPS surveys land, and builds bridges and tunnels,” Milner writes. “GPS knows when the earth deforms; it senses the movement of tectonic plates down to less than a millimeter.” GPS can tell you how long until your Uber arrives—and even let you know if someone nearby is interested in a one-night stand.
Shell Shows Off Green City Car Concept
With gas prices so low, is it possible that Shell is looking for another revenue stream with the introduction of is city car concept that could deliver a 34% reduction in energy use over its lifetime?
Maybe it should after the results the current version put up.
The three-seater car is co-engineered – the vehicle body, engine design and lubricants are all created together – using Gordon Murray Design’s patented iStream platform. The process saves on the energy required to manufacture the vehicle. Additionally, since it’s a lightweight city car, it uses a lot less gas.
Reducing Vehicle Delivery Delays
Vehicle ordering and delivery can be a tricky business, but the experts at Donlen have a variety of ways to manage expectations and reduce delays.
Driver Safety Rules!
We talk a lot about driver safety in this issue. Last week at NAFA I&E, there was a great deal of discussion about the industry's heightened focus on products and techniques to enhance safety.
Pinpointing some of the problems, Mike Sheldrick has penned an interesting piece about Fleetmatics and how they used big data to score driver behavior by state and industry.
In Safety & Risk, Art Liggio of Driving Dynamics alerts us to the frightening statistic that in one year alone more than 5,000 people were killed and nearly a half million people injured in crashes involving some form of distracted driving! The article includes a superb pass-along communication for your drivers.
Jack Hanley at NETS asks, “Are your employees buckling up?” I honestly thought that this was a basic no-brainer, but, alas, I was wrong.
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Donlen Offers Advanced Preview of Real-Time Upfit Status Tool at NAFA 2016 Institute & Expo
Donlen will offer an advanced preview of their upcoming Real-Time Upfit Status tool at their booth (#1419) during NAFA 2016 I&E in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, April 20, and Thursday, April 21, 2016.
The new Upfit Status tool in FleetWeb® will give fleet professionals the ability to see exactly where their vehicles are at during the upfit process. This functionality will be released soon as part of a larger release that effectively manages the order to delivery process so customers have true-to-the-minute information on the progress of their vehicle from order to build to upfit.
