Aurora Releases Tool to Gauge Safety of Self-Driving Systems
Aurora, the Silicon Valley self-driving startup founded by former Tesla, Uber and Google executives, has released what it says is the industry’s first tool for evaluating whether and when autonomous trucks and cars are safe to deploy on public roads without a human behind the wheel.
“We think this is the only way you can get to a safe, commercializable product,” said co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson of Aurora’s new Safety Case Framework.
Aurora, working with partners PACCAR and Volvo Group, aims to put its self-driving system in commercial service in heavy-duty trucks in late 2023. The release of the safety tool, which provides a methodology and metrics for gauging progress from development to deployment, comes days after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation of Tesla’s Autopilot driving assistance feature following a series of crashes involving Tesla models and emergency vehicles.
Read the article at Autoblog.
UK Moving Towards Zero Carbon by 2030
The UK is moving towards zero carbon by 2030, and this fleet expert is optimistic that they will get there.
Improving Efficiencies for Every Vehicle
Nearly all fleets today are working towards becoming more sustainable, and it’s important to realize that there are ways to make all of the vehicles you have on the road right now more efficient.
A Look Back and a Look Ahead
I have long been fascinated by the remarketing segment of our industry. While there was a certain comfortable predictability about the market cycles, there were always trends that sparked extra interest.
Now? This year’s market is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Making some sense of the 2021 medium duty wholesale market is Bill Bishop, FLD’s expert on this market. It’s an informative and engaging read.
I sure can relate to this principle from Chris Watkins: “If you have ever delivered customer service, it becomes a part of your DNA, and you really start to understand what customer experience truly is and how important it is.” Chris may be new to LeasePlan but backed by an impressive 30-year career in operations service delivery, his vision for delivering outstanding customer experience is crystal clear.
We are excited to learn about the wealth of new products and services to be introduced at NAFA I&E next week!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Tesla Comes Out on Top of J.D. Power Public Electric Vehicle Charging Experience Study
Today, J.D. Power and PlugShare released the results of a recent study on the public charging experience for electric vehicles. The inaugural J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study measured EV owners' satisfaction with Level 2 charging stations and DC fast charger stations.
Owner satisfaction was measured across 10 factors: ease of charging, speed of charging, cost of charging, ease of payment, ease of finding the location, convenience of the location, things to do while charging, how safe an owner feels at the location, availability of chargers and cleanliness of this location.
The survey found that Tesla's Destination charging network ranked the highest for consumer satisfaction. On a 1,000-point scale, Destination charging ranked highest among Level 2 charge point operators with a score of 689. Volta was the runner-up at 674, followed by ChargePoint in third place at 660.
Read the article at Newsweek.
