BVRLA Fleet Technology White Paper

Fleet Technology White Paper Sponsored by

www.bvrla.co.uk

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White Paper Authors

The intelligent mobilty road map

Jay Nagley has been associated with the car industry since working for Porsche in the late 1980s, and set up his own consultancy, Spyder Redspy, in the 1990s. Redspy is a leading provider of analysis and forecasting both to car companies and to third parties who require industry expertise.

Toby Poston is head of communications at the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association.

Prior to joining the BVRLA Toby was a business journalist for fifteen years, working as an editor at the UK’s largest IT and Internet magazine and as a reporter and producer within the BBC Business and Economics Unit.

About the BVRLA Established in 1967, the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association is the UK trade body for companies engaged in the rental and leasing of cars and commercial vehicles. Its members operate a combined fleet of 3.4 million cars, vans and trucks. BVRLA members buy nearly half of all new vehicles sold in the UK, supporting around 184,000 jobs and contributing more than £14bn to the economy each year.

By consulting with government and maintaining industry standards, the BVRLA helps its members deliver safe, sustainable and affordable road transport to millions of consumers and businesses.

For more information, visit www.bvrla.co.uk. © BVRLA 2014

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Source: Automotive Council Technology Group 2013

BVRLA - Fleet Technology White Paper

Foreword from

Foreword from

Foreword from

BMW Group UK is delighted to sponsor the BVRLA Fleet Technology Report. BMW has a rich history in innovation and are considered pioneers of automotive technology, with the electrifying BMW i3 and i8 representing a revolution of vehicle design and intelligent mobility solutions.

The significance of the fleet market cannot be overstated when exploring new advances in vehicle technology.

Education, education, education… a former political mantra and one which we believe is key in helping fleet managers reach the Holy Grail of driving down operational costs.

BMW

Drivers can experience BMW technology across the model range, including Head-up Display developed from aviation technology, intelligent headlights that read the road ahead and automatically adjust their beam direction and a premium range of in-car ConnectedDrive services which allow you to make productive use of your time on the road.

Safety is also paramount when it comes to technology, with BMW eCall now standard on all BMW models which automatically alerts the Emergency Services in the event of an accident.

For more information on BMW technology please visit bmw.co.uk

Drive Software

Last year over 50% of new cars sold in the UK were bought by fleets, and a similar picture applies across Europe. These companies need to be able to manage how those vehicles are used and how much they cost to own and operate.

Automotive electronics have become much more sophisticated in recent years and, combined with smartphone technology and lower carrier charges, this has led to an explosion in the potential for using vehicle data.

Businesses will pay for solutions to their priority problems - fuel use, accident damage, costly delays to name just three. The real challenge is how fleet managers can help their customers make actionable sense of the billions of pieces of data generated by their vehicles.

As a business which works with some of the largest fleet leasing and management organisations in the world, we are confident the next five years will produce more change in automotive technology and how vehicles are managed than we have seen in the last 40 years.

trakglobal

By educating fleet drivers on how to improve their driving styles in order to maximise their vehicles’ capabilities, significant improvements in overall efficiencies can be achieved - specifically a reduction in fuel usage, along with minimising general vehicle wear and tear.

This education process is breaking new ground through the power of telematics technology. Our triedand-tested black box combined with our industryleading driver behaviour Dashboard has already paid dividends for many fleet clients.

For example, VW TPS piloted our solution using three centres that collectively cover 50,000+ miles a month. By providing precise data feedback on all drivers’ techniques combined with a simple but effective re-educational programme, we witnessed a five per cent improvement in fuel economy per centre and an improvement in delivery times. VW TPS has introduced the system across every centre encompassing 500-plus vehicles.

Class dismissed…

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Introduction Vehicle manufacturers can look like technology laggards in comparison to the IT industry. Lithium-ion batteries first appeared in 1991, but did not make it into cars until 2008. Apps are still in their automotive infancy, yet are ubiquitous on smartphones.

However, there are good reasons why the automotive industry will never be an IT pioneer.

Technology has to be rugged enough to survive in a vehicle. Computers or phones do not generally spend their lives under the bonnet of a moving object, being subjected to mud, water, rapid changes of heat and serious vibration. The reason that lithium-ion batteries took over a decade to move from consumer electronics to cars is that a laptop spontaneously combusting is an embarrassment, but a car doing the same is a catastrophe. As one senior engineer told us, “You have to remember that only military and aerospace have higher testing standards than the car industry.”

Vehicles also present major issues for integration. A smartphone is a very sophisticated piece of technology in its own right but, integrated within a car, van or truck, it represents only a fraction of the overall electronics package.

Despite these difficulties, smartphone-type functionality, telematics and autonomous safety technology are making rapid in-roads into showrooms and fleets.

According to Intel, the connected car is the third fastestgrowing technological device after the mobile phone and tablet.

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Technology giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft see the automotive sector as a great opportunity for expansion, while fleet managers are increasingly recognising the strategic and operational benefits that in-vehicle connectivity can bring. This momentum is enhanced by the fact that automotive technology is rising up the government’s agenda, due to the serious transport challenges it can help address.

Traffic congestion costs the UK economy around £8bn per year according to CBI estimates. Too much of the financial and emissions savings achieved by more fuel-efficient vehicles are being wasted in traffic jams.

Fuel efficiency gains are also being frittered away as drivers circle town centres and streets looking for parking spaces. A recent survey from ParkatmyHouse estimated that it takes the average motorist 20 minutes to find a spot in London, more than ten minutes in Manchester, Bristol or Wolverhampton and nearly seven minutes across most of the UK.

But the impact of these inefficiencies are dwarfed by the financial and emotional costs of road accidents. The UK has one of the best road safety records of any developed country, but the government still estimates that accidents could cost the UK economy around £34bn each year when all damage, injuries and ‘human costs’ are taken into account.

For this reason, autonomous driving and safety are the areas of automotive technology technology that have attracted the most widespread interest.

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Autonomous Driving The science-fiction allusions of a car that drives itself are so powerful that it is easy to overlook the fact that we have already taken the first steps towards it. A car that can reverse itself into a parking space is driving autonomously.

The next step is a car that takes over driving in traffic jams – inching itself along at low speed. Within five years or so it should also be possible for cars fitted with the right kit to park themselves in multi-storey car parks.

From that point, the future gets harder to predict. Fully autonomous driving from one end of a long journey to the other on standard roads is still probably 15 years away and is dependent on major improvements in mapping (which is why Google is so keen to pioneer it – it would be the killer app for Google Maps), and a complete overhaul of the regulatory system.

There has been a huge amount of publicity around Google’s driverless cars, but there is quite a lot of activity underway in the UK. The Chancellor’s 2013 autumn statement announced a £10 million prize fund “for a town or city to develop as a test site for consumer testing of driverless cars.” There is also a £6 million project, funded by the Department for Business and the Technology Strategy Board for an autonomous vehicle project in Milton Keynes. The Low Carbon Urban Transport Zone (LUTZ) Pathfinder project will have the first two-seat prototypes undergoing track tests in 2015, with 100 “pods” (looking not unlike a self-propelled version of the pods used in the car park at Heathrow Terminal 5), on the pavements of Milton Keynes by 2017. Once the prototypes have proved themselves, the project team will be looking for a transport provider to step-in and run the service on a commercial basis.

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Safety Volvo has itself set the remarkable goal of zero-deaths in new Volvos by 2020. There is no doubt that every new element of driver assistance decreases risk, but a target of making a car fool-proof is extremely ambitious – fools can be incredibly ingenious. However, debating a target of zero should not distract from the remarkable improvements in safety that are being made now.

The next major breakthrough could come from Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). Data from the American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests that AEB reduces urban accident rates by 12%-15% compared to similar cars without the system.

Even apparently non-safety-related features can have beneficial effects: adaptive cruise control reduces the chances of needing sudden heavy braking on motorways and smoothes traffic flows. Once a significant proportion of cars are using it, traffic planners expect a reduction in the number of minor rear-end accidents on motorways, as it is the sudden heavy braking of one inattentive driver that sets up a “ripple effect” amplifying back through a long line of cars that can lead to those temporary queues that have no apparent cause.

When it comes to safety, fleet operators have to be seen to be following best practice: for example, no fleet would consider putting a car with less than a four-star EuroNCAP rating on its list. Most electronic features will follow the pattern set by Electronic Stability Control (ESC). Once it became either standard or available on most lowermedium or supermini cars, major fleets tended to make it mandatory – generally around five years before the EU did the same. No fleet is going to want to be the one that does not insist on Autonomous Emergency Braking in five years’ time and risk being pilloried in court when one of its cars hits a child at 15 mph.

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Complete road safety will require both a full set of driver assistance on each car, plus the ability for cars to talk to each other – so-called Machine-to-Machine communication. Vehicles will tell each other both about their location and of hidden hazards – e.g. a broken down van around a blind bend, or a patch of ice deduced from the behaviour of the car’s Electronic Stability Control.

The European Commission wants every new model of vehicle produced after October 2017 to be fitted with a pan-European in-vehicle emergency call system. Called eCall, it is essentially a form of telematics that transmits after an accident has been detected by on-board vehicle sensors. It sends an emergency call carrying voice and data, including details of the vehicle’s precise location, to the nearest emergency call centre. When such a system is mandated in all new vehicles, it could potentially enable manufacturers and technology companies to piggyback on eCall’s connectivity and use it as a telematics device or to provide other wireless data services.

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Big Data Business models within the fleet and automotive industries are likely to be re-shaped by the magnitude of customer, driver and vehicle data beginning to emerge in coming years.

How eCall Figure 12. eCall: How Itworks Works

3 2 Provisioning Via satellite positioning and mobile telephony caller location, the accurate position of the accident scene is fixed and then transmitted by the eCall to the nearest emergency call centre. More information is given in the eCall, e.g. the direction of travel and the vehicle type.

Emergency call centre The eCall's urgency is recognized, the accident's location can be seen on a screen.

A trained operator tries to talk with the vehicle's occupants to get more information.

If there is no reaction, emergency services are sent off without delay.

4 1 Emergency Call An emergency call (eCall) is made automatically by the car as soon as on-board sensors (e.g. the airbag sensors) register a serious accident.

By pushing a dedicated button in the car, any car occupant can also make an eCall manually.

Quicker help Due to the exact knowledge of the accident's location, the emergency services (e.g. ambulance, fire fighters, police) arrive much quicker at the crash site. Time saved translates into lives saved.

Vehicle component sensors will be communicating levels of wear and tear and enabling remote diagnostics and preventative alerts, while apps and telematics will generate the driver data required to develop a much closer relationship with customers.

If it is handled correctly, this data will enable companies to innovate by delivering a better customer experience rather than just relying on introducing new and better products. But this information will come in an incredible volume, variety and velocity and it will need to be stored, processed and analysed in the right context.

For automotive ‘big data’ to reach its full potential, we need common data standards and metrics that will enable information to be compared used across different platforms.

Source: European Commission

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Big Data - Who Owns It? As the potential value of automotive data rises, the questions of who owns it will become more important.

Manufacturers obviously have a strong interest in keeping hold of the information which their vehicles generate. It is the result of massive investment in R&D, and any potential revenue stream is interesting to an industry with perennially low margins.

In reality, the increasing proliferation of third-party apps aimed at drivers and fleet managers will mean that all stakeholders will have to relinquish some control over their data. As more vehicles are built with open systems and Facebook, Twitter and their automotive equivalents appear, it will become increasingly difficult to keep track of every piece of information.

Many manufacturers see the development of telematicsbased Vehicle Relationship Management (VRM) as a virtuous circle that enables them to provide owners with free remote diagnostics and preventative alerts, thus enhancing customer loyalty. By extending the customer relationship beyond the point of sale, they can promote the services of their aftermarket network and help their dealerships take a more proactive approach to marketing.

This is not all bad news. In return for giving up some of their own valuable data, drivers, manufacturers and vehicle owners may hope to gain from the huge potential of in-vehicle location-based marketing. Fast food chains, department stores and car parks are some of the many potential advertisers that would be willing to pay handsomely (in cash or with vouchers, for example) in return for being allowed to pop-up on an in-car navigation screen.

This scenario is relatively simple for the consumer market, but will be more complicated in the fleet sector.

Fleet managers and leasing companies will rightly take the position that they own the vehicle and the data it generates and will therefore want to control every aspect of its maintenance and servicing. Manufacturers already have a good working relationship with the fleet industry and are used to sharing data electronically, but senior executives and lawyers on both sides will be giving their contracts and service level agreements extra scrutiny as the flow of data increases.

The final stakeholder, the driver, is naturally concerned about the privacy of personal data. Drivers’ privacy concerns are two-fold – the security of their data against the outside world (which is where anti-hacking measures are vital), and the use of data within the organisation.

Fleets wanting to use driver data need to get their support and consider a wealth of legal issues, such as employee contracts, data protection and even human rights legislation.

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Benefits of Connected Vehicles According to technology company Cisco, connected vehicles could deliver added value equivalent to £840 per vehicle, per year: Fleet owner - £330 from better fuel economy, lower insurance rates and less time in traffic Society - £250 from better traffic management and increasing road capacity, fewer crashes and lower emissions Service Providers - £90 from providing traffic guidance, navigation, parking and other services Vehicle Manufacturers - £180 in savings from lower warranty costs, profits from apps, etc.

Which Departments Benefit From Big Data?

Which departments (% respondents)

benefit from Big Data?

Please indicate the importance of data for the following parts of your organisation. (% respondents) Important Marketing and communications

73

10

Regulatory compliance

63

12

Human resources

Product development

49

19

Information technology

Customer service

58

17

Logistics

Strategic decision-making

Not important

23

43 78

5 68

11 15

63 Source: Economist Intelligence Unit survey, March 2012.

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Big Data – A Fleet Management Perspective At one level, the huge increase in information that fleet managers will soon have is good news for the profession. Instead of finding out what is happening with a vehicle when it is serviced, the fleet manager or fleet owner will be able to see, in real time, mileage, fuel consumption, even tyre pressures.

That means fleets can be far more tightly managed: if a vehicle is heading for a mileage over its planned figure, it will be flagged up instantly, not when it is already well over target. It can obviously indicate service and maintenance issues before they become expensive repairs, and provide feedback about driving habits.

Drivers whose fuel consumption (or cornering speeds measured in g-forces) are well outside the norm could be sent on driving courses to improve their techniques – or simply incentivised to improve.

On the other hand, it also means that there will be far more information to process. As one leading fleet manager told us, “It will be very easy to become a busy fool, looking at reams of data to no particular purpose.”

Fleet managers we spoke to were divided about the need for another member of staff to handle the data. Some thought that by strategically choosing what, and how, to measure, they could escape having to employ more staff, but others were not so sure. The biggest danger for fleet departments is that they get feedback about poor driving, but do not act upon it. Being told a driver is potentially dangerous and doing nothing is far worse than not knowing in the first place.

As is so often the case, the issue is not with the technology itself, but how it is used. Fleet managers are going to need sophisticated “push”-based information

systems which clearly show them what they need to know in a common format for all vehicles on the fleet, not bury them in data, most of which is unimportant. They are also going to need clear procedures for acting on that information where necessary, which is bound to involve other departments. The Connected Vehicle has corporate implications far beyond the fleet management department.

Overall, the advent of automotive ‘Big Data’ has to be good news for fleet managers, As well as enabling them to do their current job better, it also means they can become more strategic in their role. They can be far more pro-active in dealing with issues around vehicles and drivers before they become major problems, and have far more influence on the total cost, safety and efficiency of the fleet.

One analogy for where fleet management is heading comes from the aerospace industry. Rolls-Royce, known as one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of aircraft engines, no longer describes itself in those terms. It says that it sells “Power by the Hour” – a term it has even trade-marked. 3,500 of its airline engines send back performance data in real time (just like a Formula One engine), and specialists monitor the performance from a UK control room, looking out for any irregularities or indicators that maintenance work will be required. While a fleet manager is never going to sit in front of a bank of screens watching their vehicles’ telemetry from the M1, that scenario gives an idea of the direction of travel of the fleet industry.

Indeed, the idea of constant engine monitoring could give a new dimension to service histories. At present, service history is less of an issue for one-owner company cars, than for older models, as all major fleets have their cars serviced on schedule. However, a service history that could show that the car had never been abused in terms of driving style would be a clear differentiator. That old cliché in classified ads “70,000 motorway miles” would suddenly mean something, when the number of motorway miles could be deduced from the engine sensors.

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Connectivity There are three main ways of enabling connected vehicles: l Embedded – where all of the connectivity and intelligence is built into the car l Tethered – where the driver uses their smartphone or mobile device as a modem, using cable, Bluetooth or WiFi for example l Integrated – where smartphone apps or functionality are integrated into a vehicle so that drivers can access them safely (e.g. music and social media) Embedded systems can provide a more seamless, secure and reliable form of connectivity, but comes at a higher cost, meaning that they are usually only found in high-end vehicles. As governments around the world begin to mandate the introduction of in-car telematics units to link with emergency services, costs are set to fall dramatically. The increased availability of shared data contracts that can be used via an embedded SIM card and driver’s smartphone is also set to make this type of connectivity more popular. It should become much easier for fleets and manufacturers to split-out eCall and vehicle or business-critical bandwidth from personal use and charge accordingly.

Tethered connectivity is perfect for low-end vehicles as it can be implemented easily and doesn’t require any extra hardware. However, this kind of solution has limitations in areas such as safety, security and navigation. Smartphone development cycles run at around one to two years, compared to automotive cycles which can run at up to ten years, so tethered systems can provide drivers with access to the latest functionality.

Some manufacturers have suggested that they could get round this issue by offering replaceable communications modules in their vehicles.

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Integrated systems are similar to tethered ones in that smartphone apps are seamlessly combined with the vehicle interface, improving safety and enabling manufacturers to maintain a branded experience for drivers. A number of technology companies have already announced such partnerships with a range of manufacturers:

Automotive Technology Platforms

Apple CarPlay Who’s involved? Apple Which VMs have signed up? BMW, Citroen, Ferrari, Ford, GM (Vauxhall), Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota and Volvo When will we see it in cars? It’s already appearing in 2014 models What mobile system does it work with? Apple iOS – version 7.1 and above

OAA Who’s involved? Google & NVIDIA (chip company) Which VMs have signed up? Audi, GM (Vauxhall), Honda, Hyundai, Kia When will we see it in cars? It’ll be coming out at the end of 2014 What mobile system does it work with? Android

MirrorLink Who’s involved? The ‘Car Connectivity Consortium’ (Nokia & Microsoft) Which VMs have signed up? Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen When will we see it in cars? End of 2014, in the 2015MY VW Polo What mobile systems does it work with? Windows Mobile, Nokia and Android

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Most manufacturers have taken a variety of approaches to connectivity – developing their own connected car systems for high-end models, providing interfaces for tethered smartphone systems and developing links with one or more of the major smartphone platforms.

Use cases and Key Drivers of the Connected Car Ecosystem:

Consumers Infotainment

Although the cost of embedded connectivity is set to fall, this multi-faceted approach to vehicle connectivity is unlikely to change in the near future. Manufacturers will need to work closely with technology firms and mobile network operators for a number of very good reasons.

Firstly, because they will lead the development of humanmachine interfaces, e.g. voice or gesture controls, eyetracking technology and dashboard visualisation.

Navigation

Electric Vehicle Services

Safety

Secondly, these operators have built-up years of experience and trust in handling and protecting customer data.

They also have some loyal customers who want the convenience of being able to use their chosen device and its content in their vehicle.

Finally, vehicle manufacturers are not best placed to predict changes in the fast moving consumer and business electronics market. Hardware developments are very difficult to plan for, while communications billing and customer support are immense challenges. In many cases they may be happy for brought-in devices and mobile contracts to bear the connectivity burden.

Driver assistance

Connected Car

Governments Vehicle Relationship Management

Electronic Tolling

Security

Vehicle Manufacturers

Fleet Management

Pay as you drive insurance

Third party businesses

Source: SBD, 2012

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Apps “There is an app for that” has become the great cliché of consumer electronics. But, whether the connectivity in a vehicle is embedded or provided via a mobile device, apps are set to revolutionise the way vehicles are managed and driven.

The development of web-based apps that are built in HTML 5 web design format and can work across multiple-platforms will mean it won’t be necessary to tweak them for particular vehicle hardware or smartphones.

Apps are going to become an integral part of the driving experience. Within a few years, the idea of cars having memory seats will appear laughably quaint: instead users will set all the positions of their controls, and then memorise them via an app. The app will be able to memorise settings for all drivers of that car, and users will be able to call them up as easily as they currently call up a stored phone number. The same will apply to audio, radio and phone settings and drivers will be able to continue sending emails and texts using voice commands. Whatever features the car does have will be controllable via the app, rather than by having to press buttons inside the car.

Many drivers of high-end or electric cars will already have the app-based ability to find parking spaces and charging points or receive real-time updates on traffic and the estimated range for their battery.

Apps are one of the biggest potential distractions in a modern vehicle. It would be a horrible irony if the convergence of apps and vehicles, with so many potential safety benefits, led to distracted drivers and worsening road safety. Manufacturers are very aware of this, and are working hard to simplify the user interfaces, with voice control being seen as the way forward.

It is not only safety that is forcing them down this road.

Ford’s experience in the USA with the first generation of its Sync infotainment system has served as a warning to the rest of the industry. Ford sank from 5th place in the 2010 JD Power Initial Quality Survey to 23rd place in 2011 largely because of issues with Sync. It was not

Applications for in-car Connectivity Market Trend

Connected Car Services 2010-2015

Safety

Security

2015-2020

2020-2025

Speed of growth: Slow growth

Fast growth

Ubiquitous Driver assistance

Navigation Demand from: Infotainment Consumers Electric vehicles Vehicle Relationship Management

Vehicle Manufacturers 3rd parties

Pay as you go drive Governments Fleet Management

Electronic Tolling

Source: SBD, 2012

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simply that Sync was itself unreliable, but many users did not understand how it worked, so they regarded it as faulty. No car company wants to spend tens of millions on improving quality and reliability, and then be rated as “unreliable” just because the system isn’t user-friendly.

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Telematics and Fleet Management Telematics functionality and affordability has developed at a huge rate, to the extent that it is no longer just the tool of the large field-service fleet or utility company fleet manager. Once associated with expensive, bespoke hardware, it is increasingly moving to webbased apps available on smartphones and other mobile devices.

If they are also connected to the vehicle’s on-board diagnostic (OBD II) port, these apps have the power to dramatically improve the safety and efficiency of fleets.

Many of the latest app-based telematics solutions now combine driver assistance features such as mileage capture and route optimisation, with fleet manager functions such as fuel optimisation, asset tracking and route productivity. Delivering them via the driver’s own company smartphone can help overcome the issue of driver acceptance and enable fleet managers to introduce app-based incentives or instructions to improve driving habits. With a direct link to the OBD II port, these apps could provide an instant audio feedback for instances of harsh acceleration or braking, for example.

The ability to extend vehicles with custom-made applications or pluggable modules could go a step further with the development of open-source systems such as Ford’s OpenXC platform, which uses a small hardware module and data-focused API to create a standardised interface between vehicle data and other applications. At the moment, these are mainly limited to those based on Google’s Android platform, but it is hoped that the list will grow.

usage-based insurance, where data on specific drivers and vehicles is used to price individual premiums.

Insurers are also excited by this technology because it makes it easier for them to detect fraudulent claims and get early knowledge of any accidents. As more and more vehicles come pre-fitted with embedded connectivity, this insurance model will become more prevalent.

Finally, in-car apps and connectivity are set to give a major boost to the car rental and car sharing industry.

The ability to track vehicles as well as providing online connectivity and support is essential for car clubs and car sharing providers, who have previously had to rely on retro-fitting the required technology. At least one major manufacturer is already installing car sharing functionality in nearly every new car it launches.

As rapid urbanisation leads to greater numbers of people renting vehicles for short periods rather than owning them and fleet managers come under more pressure to optimise the use of pool cars and reduce their reliance on the grey fleet, this technology is set for widespread adoption.

Motor insurance premiums have traditionally been calculated through risk algorithms for certain driver and vehicle criteria. The availability of more cost-effective and user-friendly telematics has created a huge demand for

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Government Policy Governmental attitudes to the latest automotive technology could be described as “positive but wary”.

On the positive side, many senior figures within government see ‘Intelligent Mobility’ as being just as important as ‘Low Carbon’. Both are crucial new technologies capable of boosting the UK’s economy and competitiveness within the global automotive sector.

Intelligent Mobility has been declared one of the five technology areas in which the government, via the Automotive Council, is trying to attract inward investment from overseas corporations. The belief is that the UK’s strong position in software development and management consultancy could make the UK a leader in advising other countries on using intelligent mobility to tackle some of their common transport challenges.

The government sees the key potential benefits as being: l Reduced congestion l Improved fuel efficiency l Increased road safety l Reduced carbon emissions l Enhanced journey predictability In a nutshell, it is about more efficient, smarter use of the transport network to spread demand. If peak congestion is reduced, the other benefits highlighted above will flow automatically.

The Highways Agency first started varying motorway speeds on the M25 in the 1990s. This was followed in 2006 with ‘active traffic management’, which saw the hard shoulder of the M42 being opened to traffic – a successful pilot which led to the roll-out of a national programme in 2009. Earlier this year, it announced the

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opening of the UK’s first ‘Smart Motorway’ on 20 miles of the M25, which saw the hard shoulder permanently converted to controlled running lanes. These sections will also have variable mandatory speed limits and CCTV-based ‘stopped vehicle’ detection systems. The agency is also working with 3rd party developers who are using its data to develop in-vehicle traffic management apps. Further ahead, it sees an intelligent strategic road network offering Wi-Fi and wireless EV charging and the capability to offer vehicle ‘platooning’, where the distances between vehicles is controlled electronically, vastly increasing highway capacity.

Elsewhere, the government is well aware of the benefits that closer integration of transport payment and information systems can bring. Thanks to the introduction of the Congestion Zone, the Oyster card, and apps that give real time arrival information, the use of buses in the capital has increased by 65% since 2001 – including by people that would never have considered using one 15 years ago. Surely it is only a matter of time before car sharing, car clubs and other forms of pay-as-you-go road transport services are similarly integrated with the wider public transport network.

The Connected Car does raise one issue close to government’s heart. The UK’s roads are tax-financed, but they are overused and under-funded. People use them freely because there is no perception of what they cost, and some form of road pricing would enable the government to charge a fairer, more dynamic market price for road users, based on where and when they travel. We spoke to a Treasury advisor who said that road tolling instead of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) offered a clearer return than almost any other possible fiscal change.

Telematics raises the possibility of road pricing without the toll booths, especially for company cars.

The Singaporean government is already investigating how it could mandate the installation of electronic toll functionality in all new vehicles. For the moment, the UK government has decided that a national road pricing scheme is too contentious a policy to consider. However, with fuel duty and road fund licence revenues declining, it may have to reconsider sooner rather than later.

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Regulation A driverless car has implications for virtually every area of road traffic legislation, as well as driver and vehicle licencing (would a driver of an autonomous car need a full licence, for example?).

Already in the USA, car manufacturers are asking that any future laws about driverless cars include clauses that any modifications made to the cars by the owners (for example hacking the software) removes the manufacturers’ liability. Driverless cars are, in theory, much safer – but not if someone has been messing with their software.

It is a principle of English law that relationships of trust give rise to a duty of care – e.g. a doctor with a patient.

In the case of a driverless car, the driver is placing absolute trust in the car, so the duty of care is clearly very high. In a way, the car manufacturer is taking over the responsibilities of driving the car. This has huge implications for insurance and product liability: there is no point making an autonomous car if the product liability insurance costs are so high that the price becomes prohibitive.

The Department for Transport is currently reviewing the regulatory framework required to allow the development of autonomous vehicles and other forms of intelligent mobility, which could include changes to a whole host of legislation, including the Road Traffic Act, vehicle licensing, local by-laws, the Vienna Convention, ISO standards and the European Union ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) Directive.

Conclusion As the buyers of over half of all the cars, vans and trucks sold in the UK every year, the fleet market is going to be a crucial driver of autonomous and connected vehicle technology. Fleet managers are early adopters of new automotive technology, partly because their knowledge and expertise means that they can identify the cost and operational benefits before many others.

All of a sudden, the drip of new automotive technology is threatening to turn into a torrent, because vehicle manufacturers, technology giants, telecommunications companies and governments have woken up to its potential to create new business models and tackle some of the most difficult transport issues – congestion, emissions and road safety.

The fleet industry – fleet managers, leasing companies and rental operators – will be largely responsible for ensuring that this new connectivity and web-based telematics reaches its full potential.

To do this it needs to get buy-in from its customers, staff and drivers and make sure that it uses the data and intelligence it gathers wisely. If it can harness this ‘big data’, the opportunities for safer, more cost-effective and sustainable transport will be nearly limitless.

The review will be widely based, taking into account new vehicles and vehicle construction standards and the rules governing drivers and use of the road network. It will consider all these issues and make recommendations for allowing autonomous cars onto the roads in whatever way seems most sensible.

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