Senator asks DOJ to Investigate Car Insurance
A U.S. senator is urging the Justice Department to investigate insurance companies and auto repairs done at their 'preferred' repair shops across the country, because of safety concerns for consumers that were identified in a recent CNN exclusive investigation.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, on Thursday called on the Department of Justice to begin an investigation into auto repairs being done nationwide, because the repairs may often be done by using recycled, remanufactured, re-used, or after market parts, which he says could lead to unsafe vehicles.
Automakers Coming to Bay Area, Steer Future Toward Tech
Ford Motor Co.’s roots run so deep in Michigan, America’s automotive heartland, that it’s hard to imagine one without the other.
But when the 111-year-old automaker started to ponder a future of self-driving cars plugged in to the Internet, its executives realized they needed to be someplace else: Silicon Valley.
Ford last month opened a Palo Alto research center where 125 engineers and scientists will develop new technologies for the automaker while forging alliances within the valley’s tech industry.
Holman Automotive Group and ARI’s Annual Donation Exceeds One Million Dollars for Fourth Consecutive Year
The Holman Automotive Group and ARI together pledged approximately $1.2 million to United Way during the companies’ 2014 “Moving the Needle” fundraising campaigns. This marks the fourth consecutive year that the annual fundraising efforts have led to a donation that surpassed the million dollar threshold.
Once again, this year’s campaign encompassed all of the Holman Automotive Group and ARI locations throughout the United States with the funds raised being channeled directly to the local communities each location serves. Most notably, 77 percent of the $1.2 million was designated specifically to United Way’s Impact Fund which focuses on four core areas: Education, Income, Health and Basic Needs. United Way has found that investment in these four critical areas leads to tangible and meaningful change.
NCSFA State Fleet Managers Workshop Goes to Nashville!
Attend the 3rd annual NCSFA State Fleet Manager's Workshop -- October 6-8, 2015 -- to be held in in the heart of music city, Nashville, Tennessee. The NCSFA and the State of Tennessee are co-hosting this three day intensive workshop designed exclusively for Government Fleet Management Professionals. Presenters will be state fleet professionals sharing their best practices and program information.
How Your Next Car Will Force You to Focus on Driving
We hear a lot about the dangers of distracted driving, but having a phone conversation while driving on a rural freeway is clearly less of a problem than dialing a colleague while turning left onto a busy six-lane avenue. What if your car could limit distractions when road conditions were genuinely demanding? This is the idea behind workload management, an area of intense research among most automakers.
It starts with determining when the driver's workload is piling up. One way is to measure the driver's heart rate and respiration using sensors on the steering wheel and seatbelt. Although accurately measuring these parameters is difficult, Steven Feit, chief engineer for infotainment research at Honda R&D Americas, says, "We can capitalize on the knowledge that the amount and speed of respiration is different for cognitive load and anxiety."
