Average New Car Price Exceeds $41,000, Hits Record High
It has never been more expensive to buy a new car than right now, according to the latest sales forecast from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. The average transaction price of new cars sold in July 2021 reached a record of $41,044. That beat the previous high of $39,942 set the month before.
A rare confluence of factors continues to drive up new and used car prices due to strong demand and constrained supply.
Dealers currently have 30%, or 932,000 vehicles for sale now versus July 2019, when there were 3.1 million new cars for sale. When new cars roll into lots, they now roll right out within a month; last year at this time, new cars sat on dealer lots for 75 days on average before being purchased. That turnaround is another record.
Read the article at The Car Connection.
“Humanpilot” Was Super Deadly In 2020
On the opposite side of the coin from our fear of new things, if something has been happening for a long time, or even obviously plaguing us for a long time, humans have a separate ability/tendency to just basically accept it. It’s normal. Even if it’s deadly.
If one person per year dies in a crash involving Autopilot, many in the media go crazy, which triggers backlash well beyond the media. Yes, the loss of any life is tragic, but that doesn’t make the calculation 1–0. In 2020, 23,395 passenger vehicle occupants died in the US. That’s more than 64 Americans a day dying in car accidents (just counting the people in the cars, not the many bicyclists and pedestrians hit by cars). Essentially all of those deaths could be called “Humanpilot deaths.”
There are an estimated 328,000 crashes a year in the US caused by sleepy drivers. Autopilot helps to save lives, and we all know that “Humanpilot” is an absolute disaster with a horrible safety record. Fake controversy and manufactured fear from a non-Autopilot accident is not a good enough reason to launch an all-out offensive on an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that is saving lives.
Read the article at CleanTechnica.
Waymo is 99% of the Way to Self-Driving Cars. The Last 1% is the Hardest
Waymo, by most measures, is still the leader of the world’s autonomous vehicle effort. The company hit a historic milestone last year when it started its completely driverless taxi program in Arizona.
One person hired at the company was told its robot fleets would expand to nine cities within 18 months. Staff often discussed having solved “99% of the problem” of driverless cars. But it turns out that last 1% has been a killer.
Small disturbances like construction crews, bicyclists, left turns, and pedestrians remain headaches for computer drivers. Each city poses new, unique challenges, and right now, no driverless car from any company can gracefully handle rain, sleet or snow. Until these last few details are worked out, widespread commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles is all but impossible.
Read the article at Autoblog.
Crash-Related Injuries Skyrocket: A Critical Time to Re-examine Fleet Safety Policies and Programs
By Art Liggio, President and CEO, Driving Dynamics
We often see headlines about traffic deaths centered around highway safety statistics, but seldom do we see the data on how many people are injured.
Even though traffic volume decreased significantly in 2020, our roadways have been deadlier. Last year 42,060 people died in a crash-related incident—the highest in 13 years.
These highway fatalities represent a 24 percent spike compared to 2019 which was noted as the highest fatality rate in 96 years since 1924.
But what received little to no attention was the dramatic increase of nonfatal, medically consulted injuries. The injury estimates for 2020 is a staggering 4,795,000!
Whether you manage a fleet of vehicles, oversee a mobile salesforce, use a reimbursement program, or simply employ commuters, ensure your driver safety program and policy adequately addresses the risk factors that contribute to these injuries and disabilities. When examining your safety program, you should consider the following examples.
Flexibility in Customer Service
By Sheila Keyser, Senior Director, Client Services, Wheels, Inc.
The COVID pandemic has forever changed the workplace environment. For many companies, it is all about flexibility more now than before.
As I think about meeting expectations, I reflect on the Fall of 2020 when the hope for a COVID vaccine was the topic of conversation.
We saw companies get creative on the different ways to keep their businesses moving, while meeting customer expectations.
But for Wheels, flexibility has always had a place in the workplace especially when it comes to taking care of customers. Flexibility is essential to the success of meeting customer expectations.
And we saw those expectations change.
