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105 03/2019

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Heiko Groesch European Fleet Manager of the Year

AUTONOMOUS Unlocking the unacceptance hurdle

MOBILITY as a Service

THE DOOR-TO-DOOR EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR DRIVERS MaaS MANAGEMENT INNOVATIONS THAT BRING US THERE

CONNECTED FLEETS CONFERENCE

BRUSSELS 15 & 16 MAY 2019 www.conference-fleeteurope.com/connectedfleets

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FLEET EUROPE #105

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MOBILITY AS A SERVICE 6-27 6

A quick guide to MaaS aggregation

From Shared Mobility to Mobility as a Service

16 The rapid rise of mobility platforms

10 Pioneering with MaaS Global 13 Future of MaaS? The EU is working on it

20 Growing popularity of corporate shared mobility

Microsoft and Infor take position on MaaS

21 Big players aim to become MaaS leaders 22 Share like you just don’t care

24 Building your own car sharing fleet

26 Ten start-ups at the forefront of MaaS

COLOPHON SALES: David Baudeweyns, Mélanie Gohy, Saskia Lannau, Elke Leën, Daniel Savigny, Aline Verpoorten

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CHIEF EDITOR: Steven Schoefs PROJECT COORDINATOR: Céline Gilson EDITORS: Benjamin Uyttebroeck, Dieter Quartier, Fien Van den Steen, Yves Helven, Frank Jacobs

MARKETING: Vincent Degives, Virginie Emonts, Benoit Delisse

CONTRIBUTORS: Stijn Blanckaert, Tim Harrup, Jonathan Manning, Mark Sutcliffe

PICTURES: ©Shutterstock, ©iStock

PUBLISHERS: Caroline Thonnon, Thierry Degives

TO CONTACT OUR TEAM: FirstletterfirstnameLastname@nexuscommunication.be 4

LAYOUT: Cible - www.cible.be

THE ECOSYSTEM FINANCIAL MODEL 28

Flexible finance methods are trendy

NEW ENERGIES

30 “Don’t forget the big picture”, Heiko Groesch of Goodyear

Future-proof your diesel fleet

CONNECTED 32

It’s not easy to build your connected fleet

SAFETY 38

Safety, the new ride-hailing KPI

REMARKETING Best-selling used EVs

34 Innovation in seamless last mile solutions

We also focus on these channels on our website. Read all these selected articles here:

40 Fixico: determined to grow quickly

42 What’s driving the Driverless Revolution?

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A QUICK GUIDE TO MAAS AGGREGATION @Frank_J_Jacobs

What’s a MaaS aggregator? And what’s the difference with a mobility platform? Terms like these are flooding the mobility space, and with good reason: they represent the future of mobility. But what do they mean? Here’s what you always wanted to know about them but were afraid to ask.

Let’s start at the beginning. MaaS is short for Mobility as a Service. And that concept itself is shorthand for a situation in which people won’t own vehicles anymore, but instead use a range of mobility services, each suited for different occasions. People will still drive cars, but they’ll be shared cars. When it’s more convenient – for example when travelling from A to B in city centres – they’ll use public transport, taxis or other chauffeur-driven options, or even bicycles.

Single interface

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“A MaaS aggregator, then, is a single interface between those and other mobility solutions and the end users, allowing them to plan, book and pay different types of transport via the same application,” says Shwetha Surender, Industry Principal for Mobility at Frost & Sullivan. The aggregator should be an easyto-use app offering seamless service, even though the various mobility products are offered by different companies. Ideally, the service is not just seamless in an operational sense, but also when it comes to the journey as a door-to-door experience. “An ideal is all it is right now. No single MaaS aggregator operating today is able to cover all first-mile and last-mile issues,” says Ms Surender.

Because of the types of mobility services they offer – often including local public transport – most MaaS aggregators are resolutely city-oriented, providing their offer in one or more well-defined urban areas. One well-known example of a MaaS aggregator in operation today is Whim, by Finland-based company MaaS Global. Whim gives users access to various travel modes – public transport, taxis, shared bikes and cars – via a monthly subscription or pay-asyou-go. It’s live in Helsinki, Birmingham and Antwerp, with Amsterdam and other cities to follow soon.

White label Another well-known MaaS aggregator is Moovel, a Daimler subsidiary. A MaaS aggregation pioneer, Moovel introduced its first platform in 2015 in Austin (Texas). Moovel now offers solutions for end users in Portland (Oregon) as well as in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Karlsruhe and Aschaffenburg in Germany. “What’s interesting about Moovel is that it’s talking to a lot of cities, both in the US and Europe, to offer its services to them as a white-label solution. For example, if they would strike a deal with London, its services would be offered as part of Transport for London (like the Tube and London’s buses, Ed.), not as a specific Moovel offer,” says Ms Surender.

Just to get a sense of size: Whim has 45,000 users in Helsinki alone, and has facilitated more than 1.5 million trips since its launch in 2016. Moovel boasted 6.5 million users at the end of January 2019, reflecting a 69% growth rate over the previous 12 months.

6.5 million users (end of January 2019)

Public transport and bicycles – two key ingredients of Mobility as a Service.

Blurred lines The difference between MaaS aggregators and mobility platforms (see case studies p. 18) is not one of size, but of type. The term ‘mobility platform’ refers to the technological framework used to deploy the service. Carsharing services like Uber and Lyft use an online, interactive platform

where the demand for individualised transport meets a supply of willing drivers. You could say that while MaaS aggregators are by definition multimodal, mobility platforms tend to focus on one mode of transport. But that’s not a water-tight definition: Uber and Lyft themselves have started integrating third-party mobility services – bike-sharing, public transport - on their platforms, blurring the line with actual MaaS integrators. “BlaBlaCar, the France-based long-distance carpool player, is perhaps more easily identifiable as a mobility platform, since the company restricts

itself to the carpool market,” says Ms Surender. “A recap, just to avoid the confusion: MaaS aggregators allow users to plan, book and pay for a multimodal range of mobility solutions, while mobility platforms are merely the applications – usually cloud-based online apps available for smartphone – that offer mobility solutions.”

Expansive solutions Both MaaS aggregators and mobility platforms can either target the end customer directly, or offer their services as a white-label solution for third parties (either at a flat rate, or for a payment per service).

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Whim and Moovel have captured the most attention, and perhaps also the biggest market share, but there are other MaaS aggregators out there. The handful of others include Conduent, a New Jersey-based former division of Xerox; and Trafi, which offers mobility solutions for buses, bikes and shared cars in Vilnius, and soon in Germany.

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“Both also have in common that the operators want to create as expansive a solution as possible, with many mobility modes on offer,” says Ms Surender. “But that is not as easy as it sounds. It is usually quite difficult to share APIs (Application Programme Interfaces – the communication protocols for any given application, Ed.) between various players.” Other hurdles that have yet to be satisfactorily overcome include concerns about data security and privacy.

Significantly, a crucial difference between MaaS aggregators and mobility platforms manifests itself on the input side: “We’re talking about two different types of investment stream, two distinct business models.” Since that is not an issue that customers generally have to deal with, and considering the tendency of both systems to broaden their offering, what separates one from the other may one day become a distinction without a difference – at least on the customer-facing end.

45,000

users in Helsinki and

1,5 million trips since 2016

“PLAYERS WITH DEEPEST POCKETS WILL WIN” MaaS aggregation is a game with many types of players. • Start-ups are getting involved. These companies are typically set up with the exclusive aim to develop a tech solution for MaaS. Examples include MaaS Global, Trafi, Moovit, Citymapper (available in 39 world cities – pictured). • OEMs want a piece of the action – and have to step outside their ‘captive’ comfort zone to acquire multimodality. Daimler’s Moovel is a prime example. Ford is also seriously starting to think about targeting the MaaS space. • Tier-1 suppliers like Bosch and Here are into the game, typically to offer white-label solutions.

the different parts of the value chain need to come together. Not all players see the advantage yet. Some OEMs are afraid they might lose their valuable contact point with the end user.” Experts predict MaaS will start picking up a lot of speed in the next 6 to 12 months. Investment levels are up, as is the readiness of cities to engage with what’s on offer. More and more cities – New York and Hamburg, to name just two – are following Helsinki’s lead and are actively pursuing the creation of a regulatory environment that is conducive to MaaS. So, who will win the MaaS aggregation goldrush? An OEM, a

supplier, a start-up or someone else? “It will be the player with the deepest pockets,” says Ms Surender. You would think that means an OEM, but huge investments are not uncommon in the brave new world of mobility innovation – just look at Uber. So the champion of MaaS aggregation could just as well be the subsidiary of a rental or lease company. But a decisive winner will not emerge soon: “A viable business model requires the different parts of the value chain coming together, because as a customer, you’ll want a totally seamless experience. But that won’t happen before, say, 2030.”

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• A number of atypical players is entering the MaaS field by expanding adjacent specialisms: Didi, Uber, Lyft. But also Deutsche Bahn and NS, the Dutch railways. Nobody has a ‘silver bullet’ solution yet. That will require two things, says Ms. Surender: “Barriers must come down – there are still significant technological and regulatory limitations. Helsinki is the only major city to have made the required effort to remove regulatory hurdles and create a MaaS-friendly environment, for instance. And

Citymapper launches the Citymapper Pass in London, a subscription to city mobility.

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FROM SHARED MOBILITY TO MOBILITY AS A SERVICE Fien Van Den Steen

First, there was shared mobility, now there is Mobility as a Service. Will both evolve into the other? Eventually, shared mobility will become but a part of a broader Mobility as a Service system. Or perhaps we could say that any kind of mobility will be part of a broader MaaS system in the end. This is at least what many MaaS providers are working on today. The examples below show how the mobility players are moving into the MaaS market one by one.

Car providers to Mobility providers

Just to name a few, Daimler offers its Car2go car sharing service, while the PSA group offers Free2Move. BMW offers its car sharing service DriveNow, while considering setting up a shared (two-wheeler) scooter project. Ford acquired the scooter company Spin, while deploying shared bikes under the name Ford Go Bikes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Shared mobility to Mobility as a Service At the same time, the traditional shared mobility providers are expanding their portfolio towards other mobility services as well. Most significantly are big ride hailing companies who are getting involved in bike and/ or scooter sharing initiatives, such as Uber (Jump bikes), and Lyft. They take it even further than offering their own mobility services by

Vehicle fleet and mobility suppliers are orienting their business models towards Mobility as a Service, as flexibility and on-demand access to mobility is at the centre of customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs.

partnering up with other mobility providers in order to offer a complete MaaS product. Uber recently partnered with Moovit, a global leading urban mobility app provider, in order to add public transit to the Uber application. Or what about the partnerships of ride hailing company Grab with public transit agencies in various cities in order to combine a smooth trip with combined public-private transport. On the other hand, car rental companies are expanding their car rental services as well with mobility services in general. Avis Car rental, for instance, funded car sharing company Zipcar, while car rental company Sixt even offers a specific MaaS by Sixt mobility budget formula.

Autonomous future The mobility landscape is clearly moving fast and the services of today might be but a precursor of the services of tomorrow, like the evolution from shared mobility to mobility as a service. Moreover, since most of the above-mentioned companies are working on autonomous mobility as well, it is obvious that we are but at the beginning of what these mobility providers might have to offer.

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Beginning with the OEMs who used to sell cars as their one and only mobility offer. Today, they are reinventing themselves in order to stay in the running. In line with the evolving mobility market, in which mobility on demand, mobility services, and shared mobility become more important, various OEMs are actually expanding their services from car producers to mobility providers.

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THE IRRESISTIBLE RISE OF MAAS GLOBAL Jonathan Manning

As the pioneer of Mobility as a Service, Sampo Hietenan has developed the concept from an abstract idea to a real service that represents the biggest challenge to individual car ownership. While Detroit is the spiritual home of the motor car, and California’s Silicon Valley is the heartland of new technology, Helsinki can present a strong case for being the future of travel. The Finnish capital is not only home to MaaS Global, the company which has framed the most compelling vision of Mobility as a Service (MaaS), but is also host to the most comprehensive MaaS system on the planet, via MaaS Global’s Whim app.

MaaS Global was only formed in 2015 and didn’t launch Whim until the following year, but the clarity and boldness of its ambition to provide a more efficient, more attractive alternative to individual car ownership has become a reference point for transport and fleet executives trying to work out how humans will get from A to B in the 21st century.

Competing with the car love affair “Why do people spend 85% of their personal transport budget on a car, when they only use it for 29% of their travels?” asks Sampo Hietanan, chief executive and founder of MaaS Global. “The answer is not that they are unaware of the discrepancy. The answer is that they want to keep the dream alive. The dream of getting anywhere, anytime. It is about the idea of freedom. People pay to get around, but also for the possibility to get around even when they don’t.” For MaaS to succeed it has to keep that same dream alive – “any time, anywhere on a whim.”

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Over the last four years the development of MaaS as a concept has both exceeded and frustrated Hietanen’s expectations.

Sampo Hietenan, Chief executive officer and founder, MaaS Global With a background in civil engineering and intelligent transport systems, Sampo Hietenan began his career at the Finnish Road Enterprise. A pioneer of mobility as a service, he co-founded MaaS Global in 2015.

“There were some predictions that we could have gone further and got here faster, but on the other hand I’ve been in transport all my life and I would have actually expected it to take longer,” he said. “The pace of development is hard to predict but the direction is pretty easy.”

Early adopters and latecomers For every transport supplier ready to seize the opportunities presented by MaaS, there’s another, it seems, that’s slower to respond. “I would have expected the transport providers that stand to gain most, public transport, to have moved fastest, but it really hasn’t been that way,” said Hietanan. Instead, it’s taxis and rental firms that have led the way. The car hire sector is well accustomed to the role of aggregators as a source of business, while taxis have been swift to appreciate MaaS as a new sales channel as they deal with the threat of ride hailing disruptors. Whim is not in the market to compete with existing transport suppliers, “but to combine them with other modes to compete against car ownership,” said Hietanen.

Building consumer confidence It’s still too early to have conclusive proof that Whim customers are moving away from private car ownership in significant numbers, but Hietanen said there are signs that MaaS is initially a complement to car ownership before becoming a substitute once users have confidence in the service. To build this confidence, MaaS Global is aggregating a one-stop-shop of sustainable transport, such as bikes, buses, trains and taxis, supplemented by rental and car share when public and shared transport cannot meet customer needs. These users currently choose between two arrangements: a free,

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MaaS Global aggregates a one-stop-shop of sustainable transport, such as bikes, buses, trains and taxis, supplemented by rental and car share when public and shared transport cannot meet customer needs.

pay-as-you-go (PAYG) service, which allows users to plan a trip and buy their tickets via an app; and subscription packages that include unlimited public transport tickets alongside varying levels of access to taxis, car share and rental depending on the monthly fee. While PAYG customers naturally outnumber subscribers, it is subscribers who account for the lion’s share of Whim journeys.

MaaS for business

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The exciting new development for MaaS Global is a business subscription for corporate travellers. “We have been getting quite a lot of inbound calls from companies that want to complement, supplement or give an alternative to company cars,” said Hietenan. “Many younger people who are given a company car are not that keen on it; it’s expensive, it’s a lot of hassle for the company, and it has to appear on the balance sheet, so companies are looking to see if we have enough coverage. We are now doing the first business subscriptions. It’s a different field. You have to make

sure the coverage is good; companies would like a nationwide or international roaming subscription. This is what we are aiming for, and to some extent we already have it.” MaaS must be one of the few industries where suppliers seem reluctant to satisfy a burgeoning demand. While the situation may be improving, it’s still the case that some transport suppliers want to own this space rather than collaborate with MaaS specialists. So will the winners be aggregators or transport companies that try to bolt additional services to their core business? Hietanen turns this question on its head by asking what the end user really wants. Do they want access to all modes of transport within their city or just some elements? Would they prefer a choice of supplier or just a single option? And would they like a subscription that roams nationally and even internationally, or are they happy with one that only works locally? While genuine MaaS aggregators can provide answers to the first half of these three

questions, transport providers with a vested interest in one form of travel tend to cluster around the more local options. Committed to MaaS as a competitive field rather than a state-sponsored solution, Hietanen wants the competition to intensify, “so we compete with other MaaS operators head-to-head using the same traffic infrastructure as our competitors, the same taxis, same buses, same trains, same cars and same bikes.” Rivals, however, will have to act swiftly to catch up with MaaS Global. The company already has live operations in Helsinki, Antwerp in Belgium and Birmingham in the UK, and expects to cover 16 more areas by the end of this year in six to 10 countries, including Singapore and the USA. “And next year, probably much more,” said Hietenan.

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HOW THE EU IS WORKING ON THE MAAS FUTURE Fien Van Den Steen

MaaS is new and rising, but before it can be shining as well, some legislative and infrastructural issues have to be resolved. That’s why the EU has set up various pilots to unlock the full potential of MaaS in the near future.

“It is not enough to have public transit, taxis, or ride sharing; not even to put them all together in one application; you need something that gives the individual freedom of a personal car, something that takes you everywhere, anywhere, in a convenient way, and fulfils the sustainability goals as well. It is about bringing new freedom.” This is how Sampo Hietanen, CEO and founder of MaaS Global, described MaaS during Autonomy in Paris. MaaS Global is the startup behind the MaaS applicaton Whim, which is a leader in the European MaaS landscape.

4 preconditions to take MaaS all the way MaaS Alliance, the European public-private partnership that aims to facilitate a single, open market and full deployment of MaaS services, defined the key issues to be addressed in order to successfully implement MaaS in Europe.

legislative framework, technologies, and open data access by breaking up the current transport market and building partnerships.

2 A single European Market

Taking Finland’s example to the next level, MaaS Alliance in its analysis emphasises the importance of the creation of a single (European) market for MaaS. Hence bottlenecks, monopolies and the development of closed systems should be avoided and access to the mobility market should be ensured for all operators. These conditions require specific legal and technological frameworks.

3 Legal and regulation

To facilitate the necessary degree of sharing and cooperation between the various actors in one single MaaS system, a specific legal environment

must be created in which the legislation designed for conventional transport does not hinder the deployment of multimodal mobility services. However, so far there is no overall European legislative MaaS framework but various European pilot projects are running to create one, as described below.

4 Technology

Further on, some technological preconditions have to be fulfilled in order to facilitate easy sharing of data between various mobility service providers. Since MaaS relies on the interoperability of IT systems and on openness of the interfaces, harmonised standards, standard interfaces and roaming standards are critical elements in its successful implementation. This could be obtained by the creation of an open middle-layer platform to

A decent MaaS system can only work if it is user-centric, providing the best mobility solution for the user, rather than privileging a particular mobility player. The implementation of this criterium is demonstrated in Finland, the MaaS pioneering country, which developed one of the most elaborated MaaS legislations in Europe so far. Not coincidentally, Finland is also the home of MaaS Global. In order to create the best mobility offer for passengers, the Finnish Transport Services Act was written to create the preconditions to establish the necessary

Berlin is one of the cities where IMOVE is testing services with a focus on data collection, roaming services, information exchange and interoperability.

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1 User-centric perspective

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Mobility as a service

MaaS is about conveniently taking you everywhere, anywhere.

connect all mobility service providers with the MaaS operator. Additionally, open access to the data, ticketing and payment interfaces should be facilitated, of course respecting passenger privacy rights and GDPR rules. The existing 3G/4G networks are considered to be sufficient to deploy todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MaaS services but 5G and blockchain will speed up the entire process by easing roaming and the scalability of services, and by providing more trustworthy, fast, and convenient data flows.

EU explores the future of MaaS

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To create a pan-European MaaS network, the European Commission created three pan-European pilot projects funded by the Horizon 2020 Mobility for Growth Programme. MyCorridor, MaaS4EU and IMOVE explore how to create accessible, affordable, smooth and secure mobility for passengers. Therefore, the projects develop and test advanced, cross-border, multi-modal travel planning and booking/ticketing solutions, and even the creation of a common MaaS API (Application Programming Interface).

Yet with the same target, the various projects are created from a different perspective and they could result in a different end-product. IMOVE, for instance, will be tested in Berlin, GĂśteborg, Greater Manchester and Turin, and will especially focus on data collection, roaming services, information exchange and interoperability between the various MaaS schemes and service components. MaaS4EU is being tested in Greater Manchester (UK), Luxembourg, Germany and Budapest (Hungary) for urban, intercity and cross-border trips. The project aims to provide quantifiable evidence about costs and benefits of MaaS, and to analyse business models, technologies, user-needs and policies. MyCorridor is being tested in pilots in a corridor of 6 European countries, from the South (Greece, Italy), over Central (Austria, Germany, the Netherlands), to Eastern Europe (Czech Republic). MyCorridor looks at facilitating the modal shift by creating a platform that will combine connected traffic management and multi-modal services.

One European MaaS system In the end, the findings of the various projects, tested and verified in the different pilot projects, will provide the necessary feedback to develop a European standard, and define the technological, organisational, regulatory and business requirements to deploy a pan-European MaaS system in the near future.

A series of EU-funded pilots should provide feedback to develop a pan-European MaaS system.

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CONCEDED EDITORIAL SPACE

WHAT DOES MOBILITY AS A SERVICE MEAN FOR FLEETS? Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a fairly new concept in the transport industry, so why is it becoming so popular? Edward Kulperger, Vice President Europe at Geotab

The unprecedented success of e-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, as well as other innovative new mobility services like bike-sharing and car-sharing services, shows a clear consumer demand for automated, shared transport services that’s quick and cheap. The seemingly imminent arrival of self-driving cars is also fuelling a greater interest in MaaS.

MaaS change the role of fleet managers? MaaS has the potential to solve many of the issues that fleet managers and transportation companies currently face.

MaaS will finally allow smaller companies without a fleet of company-owned vehicles to compete with the larger corporations on an even playing field. The cost-saving opportunities for fleet managers in the next decade and beyond are considerable. In this regard, the role of the fleet manager will evolve. While it will still fundamentally revolve around managing the movement of people and goods as cost-effectively and as safely as possible according to business needs, the increasing trend of outsourcing fleet services will put a focus on working closely with leasing and fleet management providers who will manage the day-to-day administration of the fleets.

MaaS impact on fleet management THE SHIFT TO TOTAL COST OF MOBILITY MaaS will result in fewer assets on the road but fleets will have a higher % of ownership over these assets. This factor will impact how fleets will be managed and provided as there will be an uptick in vehicle utilisation. This heralds a shift from total cost of ownership to total cost of mobility.

where multiple service providers cooperatively compete for market share. This new ecosystem will bring various applications, end users, telematics providers, OEM, and other vehicle markets together.

DATA MANAGEMENT The shift will also place more emphasis on data management to synthesise data from a variety of sources. Whereas, cost savings will still take centre stage, less asset ownership, equating to increased utilisation, will also increase the maintenance needed per asset. NEW MONETISATION The MaaS disruption allows for new revenue streams involving “coopetition”

More info www.geotab.co.uk

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Electric trucks are entering the market yet, though the electrification of fleet vehicles will be widespread in the coming decades, pure EVs may not be the best choice. In fact, a typical road of the future will see a variety of autonomous, ICE and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

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THE RAPID RISE OF MOBILITY PLATFORMS @Frank_J_Jacobs

Two factors are driving the rapid rise of mobility platforms: digital technology, because it made them possible, and the shift from ownership to usership, because it makes them practical. We examine their success via three case studies.

XXIMO: OVERCOMING LIMITATIONS Founded in 2011, XXImo offers a single mobility card for a wide range of mobility options, from fuel to public transport, from plane tickets to hotels. The platform enables users to easily plan, pay for and manage all forms of business travel and related expenses.

Why, when and how did mobility platforms arise? “They’ve been around for a long time, at least on the Dutch market. You could argue that the OV-chipcard, which provided seamless check-in and -out for public transport in the Netherlands from 2005, was one of the very first mobility platforms.”

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How would you define a mobility platform? Marco Nederveen (European Business Development Manager at XXImo): “Mobility platforms work best when there is full transparency and trust between buyers and sellers.”

“A mobility platform is best compared to a marketplace: it works best when there is full transparency and trust between buyers and sellers. Very few platforms conform to that definition today. At XXImo, we see ourselves as a mobility platform with full integration of payment services and expense

management. Started 8 years ago in response to a market demand to combine fuel and public-transport info, today we offer a unique proposition to corporate fleets.”

What’s available in terms of mobility platforms today? “There are some extremely well-designed platforms around that offer great value. However, most offer very local solutions. A counter-example is Google Maps, a world-leading platform in several respects. Waze is also up and coming: it offers location-based services, recently also including neighbourhood fuel prices, in combination with tailored advertising.”

And what’s still missing? “Most platforms have a rather limited geographic scope. Within that scope, it’s relatively easy to build an offer. However, the added value for corporates and their employees can be rather limited. At XXImo, we’ve found a way to overcome that inefficiency and as a result, our platform is able to offer the full scope of mobility services.”

a car. Once people realise that, usage goes up.”

AMBER: GUARANTEED MOBILITY Launched in 2017 in Eindhoven as a start-up, Amber is a corporate car-sharing platform that guarantees mobility: via its fleet of more than 150 EVs, or via e-bikes or taxis. The formula is available in the six largest Dutch cities and will be exported soon beyond the Dutch borders.

How would you describe your business model? “For one, we’re strongly focused on B2B. Also, we believe that to be truly innovative you have to let go of the traditional business model. We see other companies continue to do what they do best – offer car leases or public transport passes – and then just add a bit of MaaS. We believe you have to be willing to destroy your old market.”

What are the key elements to successful car sharing in a corporate context?

Modalizy was created in 2017 as a subsidiary of OCTA+, a Belgian fuel company with long experience in mobility and strong ambitions for sustainability. The idea was to offer a complete mobility passport for businesses, as an app and credit card combo.

the environmental impact of our journeys. Both factors oblige companies to review their mobility options. Cars are no longer the only choice.”

So what’s your take on this issue?

Why do companies choose a mobility platform? “Mobility has become an issue, both in the corporate world and in wider society. On the one hand, there’s the saturation of traffic in and around big cities. On the other, we have to confront

How important is digitisation for the future development of car sharing? “It’s vital. Our platform is entirely digital. It predicts demand and optimises the distribution of the cars. Amber customers don’t necessarily have our cars parked at their location – but they do get the mobility they need, thanks to Artificial Intelligence.”

What’s the role of car sharing in the MaaS ecosystem? “Cars are important for long-distance trips. An average round trip with Amber is 80km. Our cars are excellent for intercity transport, while the e-bikes and public transport options we offer are often better within cities.”

How does Modalizy sit with MaaS aggregators?

MODALIZY: STRONG ON SUSTAINABILITY

Iris Rassios (Community & PR Specialist at Modalizy): “Corporates who opt for mobility face obstacles which we aim to remove.”

“Once the decision is made: mainly logistical ones. We need EV charging, for instance, because all our cars are electric.”

“Corporates who opt for mobility face obstacles which we aim to remove. Our platform has grown over the past two years. For instance, we’ve integrated public-transport mobile ticketing for buses and trains in our app. And in March we’ll be adding Modalizy Budget and Modalizy Flex: a response to market demands for mobility budget and cafeteria/flex plan management.”

“We’ve been approached by some who want to integrate our payment solutions into their offer. They’re especially interested in our expertise in flexible mobility payment solutions.”

How important is it for mobility platforms to offer seamless service? “Accepted for all mobility purposes, our mobility cards are easy to use, and our newest ones even more so - they use contactless technology. Plus, users can buy tickets via the app. No more need to collect tickets and proofs of payment to file in an expense report.”

How do you set yourself apart from the competition? “The services in our standard offer are not limited. To date, we’ve offered more than 300 different services. Also, our geographic scope is very wide – worldwide, in fact. We can instantly provide access to emerging mobility actors.”

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Merien ten Houten (co-founder of Amber): “Car sharing is about cultural change.”

“It’s about cultural change; people are so used to having a company car that it can be hard to rely on a shared car. Amber offers guaranteed mobility: if you make a reservation, there will be

Which hurdles do customers have to overcome?

MAAS

IT ISN’T ONLY A ROSE GARDEN Tim Harrup

Is Mobility as a Service (MaaS) now an unstoppable trend, something so beneficial that we all wonder why we didn’t do it before? Or might there be some drawbacks too? To find out, we asked two leading IT companies’ fleet and mobility managers to give their views. David Omodei of Microsoft puts the case for, while Fer Derwort of Infor agreed to put the case against. In both cases, our protagonists talk of their own experiences.

David Omodei believes that expanding the variety of mobility modes offered to employees has many benefits. Firstly, operating a ‘new way of mobility’ will help Microsoft attract new talent – people coming from university and who live in metropolitan areas, people who think about mobility in a new way. These are all benefits from an HR perspective, but when thinking about creating a new system of Mobility as a Service, the company also discovered additional benefits. Offering different modes, for example, has the effect of less car use, therefore lower fuel consumption and emissions and cost.

More choice David Omodei, Sr Procurement Engagement Manager, Microsoft

Company: Microsoft Sector: IT Headquarters: Seattle, USA

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Mobility Manager Europe: David Omodei Job title: Sr Procurement Engagement Manager Vehicles: 9,500 Countries: 59

In terms of what is being done, David Omodei is planning to introduce as wide a range as possible, including any type of ground transportation currently available. This includes lease or rental cars, taxi, ride-hailing, public transport, e-bikes and potentially also scooters. The philosophy is changing the concept of having a car to one of having a credit, allowing the employee to choose what to do with this credit. Where benefits for employees are concerned, what they particularly like is the flexibility and choice within their own budget. Popularity has also grown. When the company first surveyed its employees around three years ago,

around 25% of them were in favour of car-sharing, and this increased within a year to 35%. Car-sharing, especially when the employees’ own company car is involved, is generally the most difficult part of a mobility mix, so overcoming this is a great step forward. For the employer, efficiency is a major benefit, knowing that employees are not wasting time in traffic jams, and that it is faster to get from A to B to C and back to A again, using a variety of modes.

Wake-up call… The objective of Microsoft – a world-leading IT company of course – is to use technology not just to integrate all the aspects of the mobility mix, but to proactively advise the user on what is the best way to move, by being coordinated with a smartphone diary. This would remove the necessity of checking different websites and apps every morning to see what sort of transport is on offer for the day’s events, to see train timetables… Mr Omodei even jokes that at some time in the future, with such an intelligent app, his smartphone might even wake him up half an hour earlier one day if the app had heard that the trains are on strike, or there’s a huge traffic jam.

Fer Derwort agreed to share with us some of his concerns about the emergence of MaaS as a substitute for company cars. First of all, he says that the new way of offering information can be difficult. There are several start-ups offering mobility service solutions, and there are mobility budgets: bike, train, tram, taxi… Comparing this with a simple service operated by the company, it becomes complicated to manage expenses. For example, you don’t know what a train ticket is going to cost until you use it. Are there reductions for outside rushhour travel? The same goes for taxis, where you are at the mercy of the taxi driver when it comes to billing the company the correct amount. All the advantages appear to be for the mobility provider, but not for the user. If there is a dispute about the cost you have to go back to the person or service that provided it, but in the end, you cannot manage your expenses.

Benefit Infor discusses the potential offering of mobility cards for transportation with the works council and with individual employees. The majority of those asked said ‘no’ because the company car is a benefit. They don’t see the mobility solution instead of the company car

as a benefit. They believe that it could be a benefit if it is possible to use both – choose between the car and other forms of transport. Mr Derwort: “Some suppliers offer this kind of solution, but the one we used in the Netherlands stopped because it wasn’t working”. Next, they asked the staff whether living in the city makes public transport and taxis a more attractive alternative as a substitute for the company car. They tended to say that if they lived and worked in the city they would consider this as an alternative to the car. But then the car benefit would have to be compensated, because their travel expenses would increase. For people living in the countryside, Fer Derwort uses himself as an example: it would take him an hour to get to the nearest railway station by public transport, against ten minutes by car. It is not efficient time-wise and increases expenses. Mr Derwort believes, therefore, that the company car will remain the major part of company mobility, as it is now. However, he sees the car itself changing towards electric and then hydrogen. When this change happens, it will be the time to take a new look at offering Mobility as a Service.

Fer Derwort, European Fleet manager, Infor

Company: Infor global Solutions Sector: IT Headquarters: Barneveld, Netherlands Mobility Manager Europe: Fer Derwort Job title: European Fleet manager Vehicles: 1,000 Countries: 16

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On the other hand…

MAAS

GROWING POPULARITY OF CORPORATE SHARED MOBILITY Fien Van den Steen

As car sharing is becoming more popular, the offer of corporate car sharing initiatives is growing. In order to implement corporate shared mobility in your fleet, it is useful to know which provider of corporate car sharing services suits your needs and vision.

Fleet Requirements The offer of corporate shared vehicles is wide, so you should consider various aspects when choosing the formula that suits your fleet’s needs.

1. Free floating or return to base Shared mobility can be free floating, which means that the vehicles can be picked-up and dropped-off anywhere. This means that you have the freedom to travel with the vehicle from A to Z. On the other hand, it can also be on a return to base schedule in which you have to return the vehicle to a designated base after each ride. Easier in maintenance and management but with less freedom for the last and first mile.

2. Which cars are in? In order to set up a shared fleet it is not always necessary to change the entire fleet at once. There are various models to choose from.

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• Commercial car sharing. Fleet managers can reimburse or give employees a budget for using a vehicle from a commercial shared mobility operator. So, you avoid the cost of purchasing or leasing the fleet. Or you could partner with a car-sharing company, allowing you to use the service without purchasing the vehicles, delegating much of the risk to the car-sharing company.

use. For instance, Liftshare provides a web-based platform enabling employees to share their commute and cut costs. • Sharing beyond fleet business. By allowing the corporate fleet to be used for shared mobility services outside office hours or during the day when they would be parked at the office, a company can gain additional revenue and optimise the use of its fleet beyond the traditional usage.

3. Going the green mile When going shared, and reducing the corporate environmental footprint, it might also be wise to opt for electric shared vehicles, reducing the footprint even more. Moreover, if you partner up with a car-sharing company that provides EVs, you avoid the high purchasing cost but get the high convenience of driving electric in return. And for those who repeat the oft-quoted counter argument for EVs, their limited range, it is good to know that the average B2B journey is about 30 miles, far below what EVs on the market offer today.

The offer Once you have chosen the kind of corporate car sharing that suits your fleet best, you can start exploring the market of shared mobility providers.

1. New specialists • In-fleet sharing. A number of personal fleet cars can be shared at certain moments and to a certain degree in order to optimise fleet

The first series of companies offering corporate car-sharing services for businesses are specialised car-sharing and ride-hailing companies that also have

a corporate formula. Uber, Cabify, and Grab, the three ride-hailing giants in Europe and the US all offer a corporate ride-hailing package. The car-sharing companies with a package for businesses include Liftshare, Zipcar and Ubeeqo. The latter often offer both a shared fleet and a shared vehicle management system.

2. Old players reinvented To maintain their position in the changing mobility market, OEMs are reinventing themselves by offering shared mobility packages as part of wider mobility services. These often include business car-sharing services as well, such as DriveNow for business (BMW) and Car2go for Business (Mercedes). Somewhat surprising is the lack of a corporate car-sharing service from car-sharing company Maven (GM), however they do not exclude this offer in the future according to the website.

Corporate car-sharing programmes

2,000 in 2013 to +75,000 by 2020 From

(Frost & Sullivan)

Even the traditional leasing companies are stepping in, such as ALD Automotive, Alphabet or Arval are stepping in, and expect a growing demand for shared mobility services.

3. DIY Besides car-sharing actors providing their service for business, it is also possible to adopt a white label platform and convert your own fleet into a shared one. Comtrade Digital, for instance, provides fleet-sharing platforms, as does Vulog, the leading shared mobility platform. Have you made up your mind that you want to implement a corporate car sharing scheme, but you’re not ready to take on the hassle? No worries, companies like Ridecell can do it for you. By providing the necessary software and APIs they can create tailormade platforms for companies willing to mix and match car sharing, ride sharing and on-demand services in their fleet.

A corporate car-sharing programme can be the ideal test ground for electric mobility.

BIG PLAYERS AIM TO BECOME MAAS LEADERS @Frank_J_Jacobs

Unwilling to leave the future of MaaS to startups and tech giants, a number of traditional players – OEMs Daimler and BMW and rental company SIXT – have recently launched major initiatives.

Share NOW: Free-floating car sharing.

Reach NOW: Simple, direct access to a range of multimodal mobility services. Charge NOW: The biggest EV charging network in the world. Park NOW: Innovative parking solutions. Free NOW: A variety of taxi and ridehailing services.

Officially nameless, the ‘NOW Group’ combines 14 brands and 60 million customers. The verticals will act independently from the OEMs, which will remain competitors when it comes to ‘hardware’.

Jewel in the crown undoubtedly is this car-sharing joint venture, which combines two global leaders in the field: DriveNow (BMW) and car2go (Daimler).

At the start of March, SIXT launched what it called the world’s first comprehensive MaaS platform. In one app, it brings together the company’s entire mobility offer: SIXT rent: the entire rental process, digitised. SIXT share: flexible car sharing, from mere minutes to almost a month. SIXT ride: taxi, transport and transfer services, with more than 1,500 partners worldwide.

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Long rumoured and about a year officially in the works, Daimler and BMW in February finally announced the merger of their mobility efforts. Both companies will invest €1 billion in the joint venture, which consists of five ‘verticals’:

MAAS

SHARE LIKE YOU JUST DON’T CARE @DieterQuartier

Letting several people use the same vehicle has never been easier. All you need is a smartphone, an app and data to book, unlock and pay for a car. Or is it?

The time that physical car keys stood in the way of efficient, safe and hassle-free car sharing are behind us. No more locked key boxes or cards that unlock cars through Near Field Communication (NFC). Today, you register on a secure platform, link your credit card and gain access to the car you want with your personal mobile device. But what makes the sharing experience seamless, secure and self-evident? What is the role of the connected car and artificial intelligence? We asked two specialists in the field about the technological evolution in cars, clouds, smartphones and user experience: Car2go, the pioneering free-floating car sharing company from Daimler, and Omoove, the leading vehicle sharing technology provider that is fully owned by Octo Telematics.

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Moments to share “There are three main technology domains in car sharing: on-board devices, platform & service management, and user experience (UX). All three have benefited considerably from technological advances the past years,” explains Edwin Colella, VP Mobility at Omoove. “As for the first domain, vehicles have greatly evolved in terms of on-board functionalities so that car sharing services can be integrated a

lot easier, while offering more stable and complete solutions. Secondly, car-sharing platforms like Omoove now have the possibility to access connected cars directly – when the OEM allows this capability. In such case, there is no more need for a separate telematics device – we can harvest data directly from the vehicle. We have already concluded several agreements with OEMs to that effect.”

“Adding artificial intelligence has enabled our customers to predict certain events”. Edwin Colella, VP Mobility at Omoove.

As to the platform part, Omoove has moved way beyond the basics, such as vehicle booking and unlocking, invoicing and payment. “We can now offer much more advanced fleet management and marketing possibilities allowing the vehicle operator to e.g. cater for new payment models, such as vehicle subscriptions. Also, on the platform side, adding artificial intelligence has enabled our customers to predict certain events. Not only in terms of vehicle maintenance, but also as to

MORE FUNCTIONALITY, MORE CONVENIENCE Vulog is to car sharing what Intel is to computing: its name may not be on the product, but it is essential for its success. It has upgraded its Aima (Artificial Intelligence Mobility Applied) platform so it now supports both the flexibility of a free-floating scheme and the convenience of scheduled bookings. This combination “truly alters the carsharing paradigm for users and providers,” says Grégory Ducongé, CEO. “Operators no longer have to position themselves either as a short-term or long-term mobility provider.”

Today, thanks to advances in data technology, a Car2go vehicle opens seconds after the rental is started via the app.

Zero latency Finally, there is the user experience part. “Many things have evolved between the first pilots to today’s highly efficient free-floating service,” says Christian Müller, head of Global Communications at Car2go. “We have put a lot of effort into our app to make it as convenient and fast as possible. Today, the whole process from registration and validation of the driver’s license to reservation of a Car2go, the start and end of the rental or contact with the customer service is possible via the app. Parallel to this development, mobile phones and mobile data connections have evolved at an equally fast pace. Today, a vehicle opens seconds after the rental is started via the app.” Similar things can be heard at Omoove. “We have invested a lot in making vehicles bookable and accessible problem-free from your smartphone even in difficult conditions, such as underground car parks, where there is hardly any signal,” says Edwin Colella. “Moreover, there is the so-called zero

latency aspect. Booking a car and opening the doors should go instantly, as soon as you press the button. That has improved a lot.”

Get ready for CASE Connected, Autonomous, Shared (or Services) and Electric: no-one questions that these are the big trends shaping the mobility scene. C and S are already clear and present, A and E is what the industry is paving the way for. “Electrification adds extra complexity to car sharing. Just to mention one of the aspects, you need to make sure the battery has enough range left,” explains Edwin Colella. “Our predictive tools, enabled by artificial intelligence-based software, are capable of reducing or even eliminating range issues and are therefore of high value to operators of electric shared fleets.” Car2go is already preparing for the autonomous future of car sharing. “Today, we are able to manage and maintain a fleet of 14,000 cars in 26 cities in Europe and North America. This is to a large part organised via a centralized computer system that uses learning algorithms as well as big data,” says Christian Müller. “We have gained

massive know-how on steering large fleets in urban environments, maybe more than any other company in the world. If one day the autonomous cars are there and ready to use, we will be prepared to add them to our fleet.”

MICRO MOBILITY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Invers, the self-proclaimed global market leader in shared mobility technology, recently launched InstaFleet, a modular SaaS offering made to run shared mobility services, such as scooter, kick scooter, or moped sharing. Before, mobility companies had to choose between relying on a standard software provider for fast time to market or build the entire technology stack from scratch to control the intellectual property and development timeline. With InstaFleet, then can integrate third-party software and even build specific modules themselves.

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vehicle utilisation so they can apply dynamic vehicle repositioning and ride pricing,” Edwin Colella adds.

MAAS

YOU, TOO, CAN HAVE A CAR SHARING FLEET Benjamin Uyttebroeck

@uytteb

Car sharing is no longer confined to the private market and it is now a valid mobility option for companies. Embracing corporate car sharing is a matter of accepting today’s reality, but it does require careful planning and management. An obvious first decision that must be taken, is what budget a company allocates to car sharing. If you don’t use car sharing, it doesn’t cost anything, but if you use it all the time, it can end up being an expensive option. It’s a fleet manager’s job to strike the right balance and steer the right behaviours.

No stand-alone solution “Car sharing should not be a standalone solution,” said Global Fleet Expert Yves Helven. “It should always be a part of a wider mobility policy.” Indeed, car sharing can only work as part of a wide range of mobility solutions, including car sharing, bicycles, public transport, taxis, ride hailing and other options.

Map the needs

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When a company is ready to implement car sharing, the first step is to map their employees’ mobility needs. This needs to be repeated regularly and telematics are essential in doing this properly. The result can be that the offer is too high, too low or wrong and needs to be adapted. “Fleet managers often want to maintain the status quo,” said Yves Helven. “Pharmaceutical companies, for instance, often have very large fleets for all their reps. But these companies are evolving towards highly digitised models, which will reduce their mobility needs tremendously.” A company that needs one car for each driver today may not need that many in the future.

Pilot “You have to start on a success,” said Mr Helven. You cannot roll out a car sharing scheme in a sales team, because they have a strong need for non-disruptive mobility. It can be a good idea to start with the marketing team or with top management who can lead by example. Once a first success has been achieved, it is easier to implement a mobility scheme for a wider audience.

Taxation “Three aspects need to be monitored: corporate income tax, VAT deductibility and personal income tax,” explained Mr Helven. When employees use car sharing to go from their home to the office or from the office back home, it becomes private mobility, which is subject to personal income tax. “Legislation is often not ready yet for car sharing in the same way it has been for public transport,” said Mr Helven. “Germany, the Netherlands and

Yves Helven: “We’re witnessing an evolution from ownership to usership, in which car sharing has its place, also on a corporate level.”

Belgium have introduced measures along those lines. France isn’t there yet but the tax code in France is set to be modified later this year, which should include provisions for mobility and bicycles.” Nevertheless, these potential hurdles don’t justify holding off change. “It’s dramatic when business insiders ignore what’s happening in their industry,” said Mr Helven. “We’re witnessing an evolution from ownership to usership. This is not about environmentalists that have come up with new ideas, it’s about the way technology and mentalities are changing.”

Car sharing can only work as part of a wider range of mobility solutions.

FOR INTERNATIONAL FLEET & MOBILITY LEADERS

SAVE THE DATE

6-7 NOV. 2019

ESTORIL TWO FULL DAYS

of information, education, networking and knowledge sharing for international fleet and mobility leaders

IN ONE VENUE Estoril Congress Center - Portugal

2 0 1 9 6 & 7 NOVEMBER

2019

6 NOVEMBER

S U M M IT 2 0 1 9

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MAAS

10 START-UPS AT THE FOREFRONT OF MAAS Fien Van den Steen

All eyes are on start-ups when it comes to innovation, change and disruption. This is not different for MaaS. Since MaaS is per definition a combined mobility offer, it requires the combination of ideas and partners to create the best solution, as is done by these 10 remarkable MaaS startups.

Unique in its kind, GoTo claims to power the next generation of car sharing. As CEO Shirly Kalush explained during the Fleet Europe Smart Mobility Awards 2018, GoTo unites all forms of car sharing in one application, from peer-to-peer car sharing to corporate car sharing. In order to provide the best services, the start-up has various strategic partnerships with companies like Renault.

Combining human-driven and autonomous vehicles is the core business of Bestmile, which provides a smart mobility service platform for all kinds of mobility service providers, from OEM mobility services to rental car companies. The platform can be used for human-driven cars today, for autonomous cars in the future, and for hybrid fleets in the transition. Bestmile won the third prize of the 2018 Smart Mobility Start-Up of the Year Award.

Commuty is not strictly a MaaS provider but neither is it only a parking management provider. Commuty made the clever combination of both parking and mobility management in order to reduce corporate parking costs by about 50%. The start-up combines the advantages of alternative mobility forms with remote working and parking management in an intelligent platform for businesses, saving employees time and money.

Karos has a different view on car sharing, it starts with understanding the mobility flow based on algorithms rather than GPS tracking only, next it uses machine learning to predict the mobility needs, and eventually, it uses all this information to optimise the match between passengers and drivers to fill the commuting cars. Even public transit is integrated in the application to provide full door-to-door intermodal transit.

Many MaaS theories claim that public transit should remain the backbone of the system. This theory can be seen in the acquisition of Transloc by Ford last year, when the carmaker wanted to create a synergy based on their shared vision on mobility. Still, Translocâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part in this cooperation to develop a successful MaaS system is crucial, since the start-up helps transit agencies optimise services with its microTransit Simulator, pilot projects or even on-demand solutions.

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If you are looking to launch a shared mobility service, make sure to pass by Ecomobix, which describes itself as a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;One stop smart mobility shopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Ecomobix claims to be the only fully end-to-end platform for car sharing, ride sharing and eventually autonomous vehicles, in order to empower smarter mobility, such as active, electric, shared and autonomous mobility.

Similar is the theory behind the partnership of Padam and HaCon (Siemens), who are aiming to use MaaS and SaaS to make public transport great again. The partnership wants to show how the success of MaaS is not about creating a one-size-fits-all-solution, but about offering a variety of combinations and transportation modes. Especially, to avoid ending up with a pile of shared bikes as happening in some Asian cities. Therefore, the partnership provides flexible and fixed route combinations to extend reach, such as ride hailing as a feeder of public transport or a shared bike to complete the last mile.

Whim is the rising Maas app, created by the Finnish startup MaaS Global, which has taken over the mobility market in its home base in Helsinki. Whimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; MaaS offer combines about every kind of transit in its application, from micro to mass transit, from public to private. Moreover, Whim made its application available in various cities, so you can use one account to access various transportation modes in various cities, saving you a lot of hassle. The end goal of Whim is to offer a mobility service that can conveniently take you everywhere, anywhere while meeting the sustainability goals.

MaaS is supposed to provide a more efficient and convenient mobility offer, and at the same time a more sustainable one. Some companies are taking the last criteria to a higher level, such as Mobilleo. The Mobilleo platform has an in-built carbon footprint calculator which allows users to see the carbon emissions for each travel method, and adapt their journey depending on which is the most environmentally friendly one. As a result, MaaS can balance between convenience, time, costs, and sustainability.

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The kind of information a MaaS app can contain is limitless, as is showcased by TripGo, the travel app in operation around Greater Sydney, Australia. Besides finding out how you can get from A to B in the fastest, cheapest and most environmentally friendly way, the app includes useful information on your route of choice. From available passenger space on the next bus service to estimated cost of private vehicle trips (including wear and tear, carbon and petrol), or the timetables for all services from a specific stop. Moreover, if the app can access your calendar it can automatically provide trip options between scheduled events.

Mobility as a Service or MaaS, is one the business activities that attracts the most start-ups. For the corporate customer the choice is wide open and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to the strategy to decide which start-up works best for your mobility management.

FINANCIAL MODELS

A FUTURE OF FLEXIBLE FINANCE Jonathan Manning

The financing of cars is no longer a black and white decision between rental and leasing, as a host of innovative, flexible products are starting to prove.

The appeal of the traditional company car is under threat as new financial models offer drivers the same peace of mind benefits within a much more flexible contract. Short-term leases and subscription models maintain the all-inclusive advantages of a company car, such as service, maintenance, tyres, and even insurance, but without the restriction of a lengthy commitment. In the face of both tax uncertainty and the rapid development of access restrictions in urban areas due to air pollution, both drivers and employers are increasingly reluctant to be tied into three or four year contracts that might see them operate cars that could be banned from city streets or that could incur sharp tax rises. Moreover, cultural issues are also at play, with the so-called ‘millennial’ generation seeking short-term flexibility in all aspects of its lives.

Short-term contracts

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Last month, Australian finance house Macquarie invested in UK leasing firm XL Group, which specialises in full service leasing contracts of 12 to 18 months for both corporate and private clients. Gordon Young, head of vehicle finance for Macquarie in EMEA, said: “Consumers are changing the way they want to finance vehicles moving towards a ‘car subscription’ service. We want to be part of that shifting sentiment.”

To simplify this new market dynamic, Vinzenz Pflanz, senior vice president sales, Sixt, paints leasing as black and daily rental as white. “What is appearing now are all the shades of grey between the black and white,” he said. “We see increasing demand for flexible solutions which are neither at the price of a one-day rental, nor as inflexible as a leasing contract.”

Innovative financial alternatives The result is a suite of innovative services to deliver solutions more closely aligned to the needs of individual customers. Sixt Flat Weekend, for example, provides people who don’t need a car from Monday to Friday – such as consultants working away at clients – with a car for the weekend, while Sixt Flat Seasons lets drivers choose four cars in a year, opening the possibility to have a 4x4 in winter and a convertible in the summer; an enticing alternative to a company car. Sixt plans to launch new products and services into this arena on a quarterly basis, said Mr Pflanz (see also page 21). “Due to the very tailor-made solutions we are setting up for target groups we will need to have even more variety in future,” he said, adding that by the end of 2019 he would not be surprised for Sixt to have as many as 20 different types of products in place, many of them price competitive with the TCO of a traditional lease car, given that Sixt customers will not have to pay for service, maintenance or winter tyres.

Georg Bauer, co-founder and chairman of Fair, a flexible lease product that only offers used vehicles.

Usership not ownership This customer trend from ‘finance to own’ to ‘finance to return’ is behind products such as Athlon’s ChangeMyCar, the ‘Tinder of car leasing’, which allows customers to change cars every month, and Fair.com, a flexible lease product which has already secured more than 20,000 customers in the United States. Fair has not only transformed the acquisition experience by conducting the whole process via a smartphone app (2.5 million downloads) but has also brought flexibility to lease contracts by offering them on a rolling, monthly basis with no early termination fee. What’s more, all the vehicles it offers are used.

There is a growing resistance to being handcuffed into long-term finance agreements.

“A two-year mobile phone contract is too long for millennials,” he said, yet the average consumer car lease is for three years and the average length of a loan for a used car is 67.5 months. All Fair cars are supplied with a service, maintenance and warranty agreement, with insurance as an option, and the lease rates aim to be 50% of daily rental prices. The company’s economic model is based on an average lease period of 16 to 18 months before customers flip to a new car (or 12 months in the case of its dedicated product for Uber drivers), a duration which works well for used car dealers which supply the vehicles. “This introduces a whole new velocity into the used car sector,” said Mr Bauer. Where previously a dealer would have the chance to sell a car to a consumer once every 72 months, the shorter, more flexible Fair lease means the dealer can sell a used car to that same consumer three or four times over the same period.

New remarketing channel Unsurprisingly, Fair’s disruptive approach has secured the attention not only of car dealers – it offers cars from 40 brands – but also OEMs and major fleet vendors keen to explore new remarketing channels. “We have been working on some great partnerships with manufacturers who provide us with inventories of their lease maturities. We also have a great partnership with Hertz to put off-rental cars into Fair,” said Mr Bauer. With its choice currently restricted to used cars, Fair’s natural audience is private drivers, but Bauer said it is also an interesting proposition for SMEs. “The smaller companies that do not have access to large fleet plans will get an attractively low monthly payment and the flexibility, at a moment’s notice, to return a car or get another one,” said Mr Bauer.

and an SUV for the weekend. The cars are delivered and collected, come with insurance, and all service and maintenance work is covered, leaving only fuel to pay. Clutch Technologies provides the technology platform behind pilot car subscription services in the United States, such as Porsche Passport, Mercedes-Benz Collection and Access by BMW, and says its systems not only deliver greater variety of vehicle choice for drivers, but also allow dealers and manufacturers to build closer relationships with customers. “These products allow the industry to shift from transactional to continuous relationships,” said Vince Zappa, president of Clutch Technologies. “If dealers and OEMs establish ongoing relationships, learn what is needed from consumers, and provide ongoing value, the result will be a virtuous circle of retention and profitability.”

Flexible subscriptions New car subscription models take this flexibility one step further by allowing drivers to switch cars at a moment’s notice on a daily or weekly basis. This means a driver could choose a saloon for the day, a sports car for the evening

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Georg Bauer, co-founder and chair of Fair, said the finance market had failed to develop products that filled the gap between rental and leasing, and left the used car market to loans.

FINANCIAL MODELS

“DON’T FORGET THE BIG PICTURE” @Frank_J_Jacobs &

@StevenSchoefs

“The secret of our success,” says Heiko Groesch, Manager Fleet EMEA at Goodyear, “is that we focused intensely on local issues while also centralising processes.” Last November, he was elected Fleet Manager of the Year at the Fleet Europe Awards in Barcelona.

The essence of Goodyear’s secret: company cars are an asset, not a burden. “They’re a great employee benefit and an excellent recruitment tool. We want to maintain that benefit while optimising cost – creating a win-win for both Goodyear and our drivers,” says Mr Groesch.

How? “We’ve optimised processes both at Goodyear and with our lease providers, minimising our internal workload and maximising the use we make of our lessors. Another key element was a deep-dive into all markets, to gain insight in all indirect costs.” “And our approach is holistic: we don’t just reach out to our lessors, but also to OEMs and to our drivers. Thanks to streamlining, the employee can start the car ordering process directly with the lease company. That used to be an internal task.”

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You use multibidding. Why?

Heiko Groesch, Manager Fleet EMEA, Goodyear, winner of the 2018 European Fleet Manager of the Year Award.

“To challenge our preferred suppliers. When we introduced multibidding, we noticed that our previously sole lease suppliers were able to lower their prices. So it gets us better deals. We currently have an international agreement with three big leasing companies but in each country, we work with a maximum of two lease providers.”

You’ve managed to combine 36 local car policies into 12 car policy clusters. Will you take that further? “We’re working on one car policy for all 36 EMEA countries – but one with a fixed part and a part that is flexible enough to react quickly to changing local circumstances. We should have that policy ready by the end of this year.”

What’s your take on the diesel issue? “Our whole fleet consists of vehicles with new, less polluting Euro 6 engines. That means our drivers are not affected by any diesel bans. But we’re also replacing diesel with the best alternatives, and we’re looking at that country per country.” “We generally see that eco-friendlier cars are more expensive to the company but provide savings to the driver in terms of benefit-in-kind taxation. The deal is that we increase the driver’s personal contribution so that the company saves on cost while still generating a benefit for the driver.”

Is WLTP affecting your fleet? “Yes. We see higher taxes – both directly and indirectly. For example, if you order a car in France with CO2 emissions above a certain level, we have to pay ¤10,000 extra. That reflects not just on the lease rate, but

also on the driver’s personal tax situation. So we have to take those indirect costs into account, complex though it is. In some of our 36 countries, we have at least four different calculations of benefit-in-kind taxation.”

You don’t have a telematics programme yet. Are you considering one? “No. We have good experiences with raising driver awareness. We issue regular reports to our drivers, informing them of actual vehicle costs – fuel, maintenance, management – and we feel this is the way to control cost, rather than using a telematics solution.”

What’s your advice to fleet and mobility suppliers who want to add value to their services? “Offer tailor-made solutions. Every corporate fleet has different needs. Of course, clients must provide clear information to make that possible. That’s why I think it’s extremely important that supplier systems and processes are harmonised and in line with customer needs. Take our own progress in that matter: we used to get 100 manual reports and have now replaced them with four automated ones that are tailored to the needs of the relevant Goodyear departments.”

What would you tell fleet managers beginning their journey to a Europe-wide fleet management approach? “I often see fleet managers getting stuck on details. My advice: work on strategic projects. Don’t work on things that don’t generate progress. And don’t forget the big picture.”

What’s on your to-do list? “The implementation of our green fleet policy. We need solutions for varying situations in different markets, so it’s a big task. The policy will kick off at the end of Q2 2019.” “Also, we need EV charging infrastructure at Goodyear. For this, we’re implementing a charge card by New Motion, which will allow our drivers to charge their EVs at home or at 80,000 charge points across Europe, with an automated invoicing process.”

Would your strategy work for other companies too?

GOODYEAR EMEA: FLEET ID CARD • US-based Goodyear is a global leader in the tyre business. Present in 61 countries, it employs 64,000 and has a global fleet of 6,500+ vehicles. • As fleet manager EMEA, Heiko Groesch is responsible for about 2,500 vehicles in 36 countries. • Around 100 are LCVs, the rest are almost all passenger cars. Some pickups in South Africa. • Virtually all vehicles are funded via operational leasing – company policy since 1999. • In 2014, Mr Groesch started implementing a new fleet management strategy for Goodyear EMEA.

“Definitely. But my experience is that many European fleet managers only manage their fleets from an international perspective and have little insight in the local regulations and processes. In my opinion, you can only manage an international fleet at high level if you have sufficient knowledge of both levels.”

THE CYCLING FIREMAN Where do you keep your European Fleet Manager of the Year Award? At home, in my glass cabinet.

What was your dream job when you were a child? Fireman. I’ve been volunteering in that role for more than 30 years, and I’m very proud my son is now doing the same.

Tuscany.

Favourite hobby? Bicycling – but to be honest: electric bicycling. Heiko Groesch, an avid cyclist, is also a volunteer fireman.

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Favourite holiday destination?

CONNECTED

BUILDING YOUR CONNECTED FLEET Daniel Bland

Unlike the past where data was manually surveyed and recorded, the ever-evolving world of today is equipped with increasingly innovative technologies connecting vehicles, surrounding infrastructure and more.

Three of the keys to building more connected vehicle fleets in the future are standardising policies, improving infrastructure, and increasing the awareness of the connected solutions available. For one, creating standardised solutions for fleet managers is needed. Besides governments working handin-hand with vehicle manufacturers to develop national policies, companies should develop common practices within their corporate fleets, developing a national or even a regional policy. A global standard could be developed as well, but this can get quite complicated.

that it is especially important for fleets with a heavy footprint such as trucks and high mileage fleets. Among the norms which could be developed are limiting the number of hours a driver can be operating a vehicle per day, setting standards for

maximum vehicle CO2 emission, and from a government standpoint - rules for vehicle types to be used during specific times or on particular roads, associate VP for global telematics provider Geotab Carlos Castillo told Fleet Europe.

One way to develop standards is to get the opinions of company executives working within the connected vehicle realm. Among them are global telematics providers Geotab from Canada, Teletrac Navman (USA), Galooli OTO (Israel), and Mix Telematics (South Africa), as well as Mobileye Vision Technologies, an Intel Company focused on vision-based advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).

Retrofit Euro NCAP

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Although standardisation is needed, one challenge is that there are so many suppliers out there that it is hard for fleets to know which brand to trust. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At Mobileye, we think that standardised tests like the Euro NCAP should be established for retrofit technology as well as for new cars. This would empower fleet managers to make informed decisions about installing this kind of technology in their vehicles,â&#x20AC;? said EMEA Director Gil Ayalon, adding

The efficient deployment of connected fleets will depend on the combination of tech development, the expansion of a smart infrastructure and the creation of standardised solutions that can be easily translated into vehicle fleet policies.

Smart cities Keep in mind that connected fleet operations work hand-in-hand with “smart city” operations. As such, one of the fundamental building blocks of achieving better smart cities of the future is developing a standard operating system much like we see in computers, according to Vipin Moharir who is the founder of international next-generation mobility solutions company Autofacets.

“A global standard currently does not exist but there are a few companies working toward such a system,” said Mr Moharir. For now, among the world’s more local systems is the smart city data management platform developed to tackle mobility-related challenges and increase the quality of life for Ohio state capital Columbus in the United States. Launched in 2018, it is the technical backbone for projects within the US Department of Transportation portfolio and can be used by private and public sectors.

in today’s ever-changing world, many are not aware of what is out there. A connected fleet can tell you how many drivers are commuting along a specific route, inform fleet managers of gridlocks and lacks in the electricity grid, remotely control some vehicle operations, reduce vehicle theft, and even save lives. “Governments should be involved in raising awareness about the lifesaving collision avoidance technology available for fleets, and this is for both embedded and retrofit solutions,” said Mr Ayalon.

Sample datasets include foodbank mapping for grocery shopping, low bridge detecting to prevent dangerous bridge strikes by oversized trucks, and age mapping to better serve the city’s seniors.

“Besides saving lives and making roads safer for all road users, this technology conditions drivers to keep a safer distance and brake harshly less frequently which can also reduce fuel consumption,” the executive added.

Parking solutions

For Fleet Europe, one of the main ways to promote awareness to fleet managers, drivers, and society as a whole is through training sessions provided by the connected fleet industry. By combining this with the development of standard policies and urban infrastructure, more efficient and robust connected fleets will be accomplished.

This brings us to another key factor to having efficient, connected fleets and that is building infrastructure for your vehicles to operate in. In today’s connected world, the concept of sharing is on the rise and one of the things to be aware of is the importance of having integrated parking solutions. “What this means is having a city-wide system [or a company-wide system] which locates available parking spaces,” says Mr Moharir. For instance, in large cities today, many drivers leave their apartments to go to work and this results in thousands of empty parking spaces at apartment buildings during the day. An artificial intelligence platform could be made to make use of all this unused space. In the case of an electric vehicle (EV) fleet, we all know that having adequate recharging facilities is necessary. In a connected fleet, you will be able to know how much of the local electricity grid is available for upcoming EV fleets.

Raising awareness Finally, how can you build a stateof-the-art connected fleet if society is unaware of the connected solutions available? Believe it or not,

JOIN THE 2019 CONNECTED FLEETS CONFERENCE On 15 and 16 May the first ever Connected Fleets Conference will be held in Brussels. Discover the programme and registration possibilities here www.conference-fleeteurope.com/ connectedfleets

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“By working hand-in-hand with vehicle manufacturers, governments need to develop norms within the industry. And to help create these common practices, companies such as Geotab could support in the putting together of the most efficient policies,” said Mr Castillo.

LAST MILE

FROM PIZZA TO PEOPLE, THERE’S A SMART LAST-MILE SOLUTION Mark Sutcliffe

Are zero-emission autonomous vehicles the key to solving the challenge of clean, green and lean last-mile urban delivery?

Starship is a suitably futuristic start-up that uses autonomous and connective technology to deliver anything from paper clips to pizzas.

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As EU member states, regions and cities start to seriously clamp down on urban air pollution, the quest for a connected, non-polluting and seamless solution to the final mile journey is accelerating. Established logistics players such as DHL, TNT, UPS and Royal Mail are working with a whole ecosystem of start-ups to trial innovative new modes of delivering time-sensitive orders direct to a new generation of demanding customers.

According to market researchers Frost & Sullivan, this rapidly expanding market will be worth $17 billion by 2030. Archana Vidyasekar, Research Director at Frost & Sullivan, said: “We saw an inflection point last year when a few regulatory changes came into effect and the OEMs started sustained investment in technology and the supporting infrastructure.” “The potential for reducing labour costs in a sector where economies of scale are core to operational efficiency

is significant, and while there are safety and regulatory obstacles to overcome, we expect another inflection point in 2022 when some of this technology begins to become accepted as mainstream.” “The use of airborne drones and delivery robots will develop quickly but differences in geography and population density may dictate significant differences in how it is adopted in different markets.”

The Technologies Logistics companies have invested billions of euros in pursuit of efficient last-mile delivery. The challenge is that while the last mile may only constitute a tiny proportion of the total journey, it can account for around a quarter of the total combined cost. Hence the search for an efficient, seamless, trackable and – increasingly – zero-emission solution.

Drones Mercedes-Benz has trialled a hybrid ‘first-mile’ delivery system that combines a specially adapted van with state-of-the-art drones to deliver packages weighing up to 2kg. The Vito vans act as a ‘mother ship’ to the drones, which are despatched from the retailer to land on the roof of the vehicle at one of four rendezvous points in the city, from where they are then delivered to the customer by the driver.

Pods The UK Government-supported Autodrive Project running in Milton Keynes and Coventry uses futuristic automotive pods developed by Aurrigo to trial passenger-carrying last-mile transport solutions. Aurrigo sales and marketing director Miles Garner said: “We completed the world’s largest trial of autonomous vehicles in October. Completely autonomous self-driving cars are still some way off, but first and last mile delivery of goods is where viable technology and products are being commercialised right now.”

THESE CITIES ARE ALREADY DOING IT LONDON

ROUEN

Gnewt uses enhanced capacity electric vans to make multiple drops on behalf of larger distribution companies within London’s Low Emission Zone – soon to become the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (from April 2019). Using London’s largest fleet of fully electric vans, packages are transferred at Gnewt’s warehouse in Bow before onward delivery into central London. Gnewt’s fleet has topped 100 vehicles and last year delivered some three million items.

Renault has teamed up with global public transport provider Transdev to trial an on-demand shared mobility service in the Normandy city of Rouen using four electric Renault Zoe cars and an autonomous shuttle bus.

STOCKHOLM Swedish capital Stockholm has been one of the pioneers of green transport solutions, with a series of local government-supported initiatives to encourage the use of alternative fuels introduced in 1994. The latest of these pilot projects involves using electric trucks to deliver goods to city centre shops and restaurants overnight to reduce peak hours congestion. Stockholm’s noise controls currently forbid deliveries between 10pm and 6am, but plug-in hybrid electric trucks offer an almost silent solution to restocking city centre shops and restaurants. This pilot project is a partnership between Scania, Havi Logistics and McDonalds and will last until autumn 2019. The pilot scheme could lead to citywide overnight deliveries to ease congestion and improve efficiency.

The Rouen Autonomous Vehicle Lab allows subscribers to use an app to hail a vehicle at one of 17 stops along a 10km route. Participating vehicles have autonomous driving ability on board, but the fleet is also overseen by a central fleet control centre which can slow or stop all the vehicles remotely. A Renault spokesperson said: “The main advantage of this kind of on-demand service is that it is more convenient for passengers while offering lower operating costs to public transport providers. Participants in the trial have been very enthusiastic about the technology and we believe that this sort of ‘real world’ testing is very important to establishing public acceptance of autonomous vehicles. There are still some legal obstacles to on-demand and autonomous driving, but Renault is aiming to make them available by 2022.”

Bots

In Rouen, four electric Renault Zoe cars and an autonomous shuttle bus provide on-demand shared mobility.

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Established by the guys who founded Skype, Starship is a suitably futuristic start-up that uses autonomous and connective technology to deliver anything from paper clips to pizzas. The robots use a combination of machine learning, artificial intelligence and sensors to travel on pavements and navigate around obstacles and can cross streets, climb kerbs, travel at night and operate in both rain and snow.

NEW ENERGIES

FUTURE-PROOF YOUR DIESEL FLEET @DieterQuartier

All new cars are Euro 6, but some are more Euro 6 than others. Even though the latest 6d-temp models are a lot cleaner than their 6b counterparts, the law and the taxman treat them no differently. That is likely to change, though.

The least you can say is that the EU has not dealt with the diesel crisis that erupted in September 2015 in the most pragmatic or transparent way. What they came up with, is Euro 6c, 6d-temp and 6d. Who can tell the difference and what exactly it is that changes to ensure emissions are effectively under control? In fact, since the introduction of Euro 6 in 2014, the threshold value for NOx emissions – which is what Dieselgate is all about – has not changed: it has remained 80mg/km for diesel cars.

The letters behind the number 6 indicate updates in the measuring method and, more importantly, to which extent real driving emissions (RDE) may deviate from lab measurements (WLTP and previously the NEDC).

Soft transition In September 2017 the Euro 6 standard adopted the suffix ‘d-temp’ – indeed, an intermediate step towards the “real” Euro 6d standard, which will take effect in 2020 for new type approvals and a year later for all new vehicles. Euro 6d-temp allows a conformity factor of 2.1, meaning that NOx emissions measured during the RDE test must stay below 168mg/km. As soon as Euro 6d is introduced, starting in January 2020, the conformity factor decreases to 1.43, which equals to 114mg/km. According to ACEA, the European car manufacturers’ association, this “margin for error is present simply because the PEMS (portable emission measurement system) equipment does not deliver exactly the same results for each test.” “For example, PEMS are not as accurate as a full laboratory system so they will not measure to the same level of repeatable accuracy as a lab test. In practice, car manufacturers must set their design objectives well below the legal limit to be certain of complying.” This is the information you can find on the website caremissionstestingfacts.eu.

Nick Molden, Founder and CEO of the British company Emissions Analytics.

All that is Euro 6 is not clean Under the Euro 6b standard, i.e. before Euro 6d-temp, basically between

September 2014 and September 2018, OEMs were not required to road-test their new cars to obtain a type-approval. That indeed means that for many Euro 6b diesels, there are still tremendous gaps between NOx emissions measured in the lab and those registered on the road. In other words, even diesels in your fleet that took the road last year can still be heavy polluters. Today, legislators make no difference between Euro 6b and 6d-temp, neither for taxes nor for admission restrictions. That will probably change in the future, though. In the UK, company car tax already takes into account the 6d standard; if your car complies, it is exempt from the new diesel VED supplement. Today, only diesel models from Mercedes (A Class, B Class, GLE) and Jaguar (XF 2.0D 180) comply with the future standard, giving them considerable competitive advantages across the Channel.

Independent tests Even though Euro 6d-temp and 6d should reassure the public, customers have lost their faith in diesel. Media reports about bans in German cities, Paris, Madrid and elsewhere have done nothing to restore trust, even though today’s diesel are tens, if not hundreds of times cleaner than those under scrutiny in the aftermath of Dieselgate. The problem is that both the EU and OEMs have lost credibility. Fortunately, there are organisations and companies like ADAC, Auto Motor & Sport and Emissions Analytics that perform real

EQUA Index: independent rating To help fleets make an informed decision based on hard facts, Emissions Analytics has developed the EQUA Index. “We have tested about 1,500 vehicles in Europe in terms of fuel efficiency, air quality, CO emissions and CO2 emissions on the road – all in the same way. The Air Quality EQUA Index – EQUA Aq – shares some similarities with the EU’s RDE test, but contrary to the latter, our data allows a comparative rating of cars. A very clean car gets an A+ label, whereas the worst polluters receive an H label,” Nick Molden says.

Reports about diesel bans in various European cities have done nothing to restore consumer trust. world tests in an entirely independent and objective way. The results allow fleet managers to make an informed decision and select vehicles based on their actual ecological performance. “We want to provide clarity and objective, trustworthy emissions and fuel consumption data to allow fleets to make the right choices,” explains Nick

Molden, Founder and CEO of the British company Emissions Analytics. “There are some extremely clean diesels on the market today, but no-one believes the manufacturers anymore. Companies are either buying the wrong vehicles, or not placing new orders at all because they are confused and do not know in which direction things will evolve. That is clearly depressing the industry.”

“An A+ vehicle in our rating, e.g. the 2017 Audi Q2 2.0 TDI 150 hp S-Tronic, emits less than 60mg of NOx per km – which is the Euro 6 limit for petrol cars. An H-labelled car, for instance, the 2013 Renault Captur 1.5 dCi 110 hp, exceeds the Euro 6 limit at least 12 times.” Interestingly, according to the EQUA Index, there are also Euro 5 diesels out there that are cleaner than Euro 6b diesels. Emissions Analytics is entirely independent. It does not rely on funding from the European Commission or manufacturers. Revenue comes from subscriptions to their database and custom emission tests required by fuel companies, for instance.

JAGUAR AND MERCEDES: EURO 6D COMPLIANT

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Even though electrification is central in Daimler’s and JLR’s PR discourse, both OEMs have invested considerably in diesel and believe it has a place now that NOx emissions are under control. To make their point, both premium OEMs already offer diesel models today that comply with the emission standards of tomorrow. The Mercedes A 200 d, A 220 d, B 200 d, B 220 d, GLE 350 d and GLE 400 d have a Euro 6d type approval, and so has the re-engineered Jaguar XF 2.0D 180.

SAFETY

SAFETY, THE NEW RIDE-HAILING KPI Yves Helven

When, mid-2018, the brutal rape and murder of a young woman by her Didi driver was reported, ride-hailing suppliers across the world reached out to the media to reassure the user. A CNN investigation in the same period however, revealed that what happened in China is not an isolated case.

Between 2014 and 2018, over 100 US Uber drivers were accused of sexual assault. Nevertheless, it’s impossible for Uber, Grab, Didi, Lyft and all the others to fully exclude user risks.

Safety strategy Insurance is only a small part, and probably the easiest part, of the ride hailer’s job to ensure a safe ride for both driver and passenger. The full safety cycle includes prevention, monitoring and insurance. Even though the largest ride-hailers are global companies, they tend to adjust to local regulatory obligations rather than setting global safety standards that exceed the minimum requirements.

Prevention

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The first and most obvious part of prevention is to make sure the vehicle used for ride hailing is roadworthy and safe. Uber Canada, for instance, requires the drivers to submit a Safety Standards Certificate; these certificates were initially created to facilitate second-hand car sales and act as a proof of the vehicle’s roadworthiness. Uber Canada also requires the vehicle to be a 2006-year model or younger. This approach unfortunately doesn’t take into account that an Uber vehicle will be used for passenger transport. Driver screening. In the US, both Lyft and Uber do extensive background checks on the driver-candidates. Initially, these checks would go back 7 years (online access to court records is limited to 7 years), but due to the high number of incidents, backgrounds now go back to age 18. If a felony is discovered, the candidate will not be eligible to become an Uber or Lyft driver.

Bringing passengers to their destinations for a fee is formally not part of the normal usage of a vehicle. In-app safety push is a feature that is included in the user and driver applications, which allows both accessing emergency services and sharing trips with trusted contacts. Uber launched the safety service in Europe in October 2018. It has an additional advantage for the drivers and Uber Eats couriers: their apps now include speed limit warnings and a Usage Based Insurance interface.

Monitoring On trip identification. Following the tragic death of a passenger, Didi has improved its facial recognition feature on the driver’s side of its application. The mid-2018 case referred to at the top of the article, was committed by the son of a Didi driver. The man had logged into his father’s Didi account when he picked up the 21-year-old victim; facial recognition was not enabled on his father’s mobile phone.

Dashcams and in-car monitoring devices. Although undeniably useful, dashcams are not mandated by all ride-hailers across the world. Grab Philippines, for instance, offers a partnership discount on the purchase of a dashcam to its drivers, whilst Grab Malaysia has already in mid-2017 decided to give free devices to its 3,500 drivers.

Insurance As bringing passengers to their destinations for a fee is formally not part of the normal usage of a vehicle, insurance companies will decline claims related to incidents and accidents occurring during ride-hailing trips. In addition, the driver is also obligated to inform the insurance company of every significant change in the initial insurance coverage situation. Therefore, the drivers need to take measures in order to remain insured.

The European Court of Justice ruled that Uber is a transportation firm and not a diital company.

At the end of 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled that Uber (and by extension, all ride-hailing companies) should be regulated like a transportation firm rather than a digital company. The ruling didn’t change much for Uber, as the taxi lobby had already convinced many governments to align ride-hailers with taxi companies. It’s common knowledge that taxi companies need to comply with

a plethora of compliance regulations, which drives the trip cost upwards, especially in comparison with the cost of a ride-hailed trip. In order to comply with local and European regulations, Uber has decided in May 2018 to team up with French insurer Axa to provide insurance protection for its European drivers. The scheme, called “Partner Protection” will cover the drivers for liability, injury, illness and even maternity/paternity. Other companies, such as Waymo and Trov, have opted for trip-based insurance, which protects passenger from various risks during their trip, including lost property and medical expenses. Toyota has launched its “Total-Care” service in South-East Asia in collaboration with Grab. Total-Care stands for a combination of telematics, maintenance and insurance, delivered through Toyota-affiliate Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance. The insurance fee is based on data feeds from the telematics device, allowing for safe drivers to reduce their insurance premiums.

Inevitable Usage-based-Insurance (UBI) is already gaining traction across the world. Vehicles equipped with telematics and connectivity can feed the insurers the exact and detailed usage in order to calculate the correct risk premium. As technology evolves, even more sensors will be transferring data and connectivity between ride-hailing applications and the vehicle itself (see Tesla’s integrated Car Sharing software). Therefore, technology will be able to deal with many of the risks related to car hailing, for both the driver and the passenger. Nevertheless, personal risk assessment remains essential.

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Rating. After each trip, both driver and user can give 1-to-5-star style rating, depending on quality and on the personal experience during the trip. Depending on the supplier, the impact of these ratings can be entirely different. Grab retains the 100 most recent scores to calculate the driver’s rating and will not proactively intervene upon low driver ratings. The driver will however receive a weekly report with an overview of the ratings and recommendations to improve. Taxify in Europe only retains the last 40 scores.

SAFETY

DETERMINED TO GROW QUICKLY Fien Van den Steen

At the Fleet Europe Summit in November 2018, Fixico won the Smart Mobility Start-up of the Year Award. Time to speak with Luca Samori, Head of Partnerships, and find out what has happened to his company in the past two months.

“Our unique digital platform is crossborder, very scalable, and features a real-time tendering mechanism that is enabled by one of the largest body repair shop networks in Europe.”

Why do you think Fixico won the Smart Mobility Start-up Award?

Fixico’s Boris Koster, Derk Roodhuyzen de Vries and Luca Samorì at the 2018 Smart Mobility Start-up Awards.

Fixico is an online platform where car owners, fleet owners, fleet managers and insurance companies can easily obtain, compare, and select the best offers for their car repairs.

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What exactly makes Fixico the better option and the more convenient way for car damage management? Luca Samori: “The car damage repair space has been lacking innovation: time has literally stood still. Today, the driver journey is inconvenient and time consuming, with lots of calling, emailing, physical inspections, etc. But drivers expect a smooth experience, via a few simple clicks, like when they book a taxi or a hotel. Moreover, Fleet

and Claim Managers need to perform several non-value adding activities, deploy outdated practices to control costs and they lack real-time insights in the process and quality of the repair service.” “We offer a new and fully digital way to handle car damage. Fleet managers can cut non-value adding activities, gain real-time data insight and full control at every step of the way. On top of this, they can boost driver satisfaction, reduce claim expenses and improve effectiveness and accuracy. Our platform offers a strong solution both on the front-end (focusing on the driver’s journey) and back-end (leveraging a direct connection with repairers).”

“The repair handling space is on the verge of a radical transformation, fuelled by digitisation and innovation, drawing renewed attention to this hot topic. We bring fleet managers a powerful and simple solution to help address this important development and stay ahead of competitors. We believe that the jury recognised that our solution is easy to implement and provides quick results with a very compelling business case.”

Did it help you get noticed by other mobility operators or interesting partners? “We’re experiencing a strong momentum, onboarding several new partners and creating a very healthy pipeline of opportunities across the fleet and motor insurance spaces. Thanks to strong partnerships with innovative and like-minded players like Axa and Aon, we’re rapidly scaling up and expanding our footprint across Europe.”

What has changed since your winning of the Fleet Europe Smart Mobility Start-up Award? “This first-class industry recognition has provided unparalleled visibility and strengthened our position in the

Fixico is an online platform on which drivers can easily compare and select car repair offers.

Moreover, we keep on improving our fleet offering, for example, we’re: • Enriching a truly modular and fullycustomisable driver/user solution, • Developing a broader and richer set of services for Claim and Fleet Managers, • Offering an improved online working environment to our affiliated body repair shops, • Constantly streamlining and automating the entire end-to-end process through new technologies like AI”

Fixico’s core area is Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Are you planning to expand in the near future? “We’re determined to quickly grow our geographical footprint and continuously improve our solution. Our goal is to create a pan-European BRS network within the next 3 years.” “Next to this, we’re deploying our playbook and exporting our successful model, perfected with existing partners,

to other European markets. We’re in talks with established players in new countries who can support and accelerate our geographical expansion. From experience, we can enter a new country and build a high-quality body repair shop network within a couple of months.”

What are the dynamics in the sector Fixico will have to anticipate on for the near future? “Clear trends are acting as strong tailwinds for our growth, making our proposition increasingly appealing.” “Among relevant market developments, we’ve observed a renewed focus on process automation trough digitisation and AI as well as a reduction of human and physical inspections and expertise. Moreover, on-demand services delivered via mobile devices are becoming pervasive, boosted by marketplaces which connect supply and demand digitally and transparently.” “Moreover, due to the increased usage of ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), it’s becoming increasingly important to know the exact specialisation of each repair shop in the network. That way, we can quickly recognise each damage repairer’s unique characteristics and requirements and instantly

determine the best repair shop for each job. Fixico’s digital platform will have the ability to make this distinction and therefore always offer the best and most efficient solution, for each claim.”

Early next year, Fixico will come up with an innovative technology. Can you already tell us more about that? “We are constantly investing in improving our solution: automation and scalability are key to serve large international partners. We are on the verge of enhancing our solution with cutting edge artificial intelligence, which is going to bring clear benefits to all stakeholders involved. Image recognition and machine learning are going to make the entire repair process far quicker and more efficient.” “The aim is to create a fully automated digital end-to-end claim handling process with no human intervention by connecting high-quality repairers, claim handlers and fleet drivers and by harnessing the power of our digital platform and AI. The new software, leveraging our unique damages database, is currently being tested and optimised with selected partners.”

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European fleet space. It has helped us open new doors with top car leasing, rental and motor insurance companies, resulting in new, very promising partnerships. For example, more than ten new corporate fleets are using Fixico platform this quarter.

AUTONOMOUS

WHAT’S DRIVING THE DRIVERLESS REVOLUTION? Shane Curran

The promise of driverless cars has been around for some time and we’re nearly ready to take that final step. The technology is no longer holding us back, so we’re likely to see full autonomy on public roads in the next two years. But are we ready for it?

Levels of automation courtesy United States Department of Transport, NHTSA.

Technology Solved – what’s holding us back? The key technology driving (if you’ll excuse the pun) a driverless future is lidar, a kind of light-based radar that “sees” the surroundings. Lidar is sufficiently developed for full autonomy and while it remains somewhat pricey, the total cost has fallen by as much as 90% over the last few years.

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So, with this issue of hard technology solved, the issues that hold us back are software and regulation. Deloitte focussed on the software issue in their 2019 paper Autonomous Driving – Moonshot Project with Quantum Leap from Hardware to Software & AI Focus, observing that while the hardware can collect tremendous amounts of data points this also needs to be interpreted in real time.

Deloitte go on to say that “Artificial intelligence is one of the crucial elements for level 4 and 5 autonomy” and that self-learning technologies are “are critical for meeting the demand for complex scene interpretation, behaviour prediction and trajectory planning.”

Regulation and legislation Regulatory issues are not yet resolved and there is work to be done on this, especially in Europe, but the issue most likely to slow the adoption of autonomous vehicles is quite a human one. True “steering wheel optional” autonomy is a slightly nerve-wracking experience for most and although future generations will find the experience perfectly normal, for now we need to get used to the idea. Beyond that there are also problems when using driverless vehicles. Spencer Salter, a Senior Research Manager at

Jaguar Land Rover has commented recently on the difficulties around such mundane matters as travel-sickness, especially where passengers are seated facing each other.

Economics of Driverless Driverless trucks and taxis will improve efficiencies and lead to lower costs, but they may also create a large new form of structural unemployed. Around 40,000,000 people worldwide drive a vehicle for a living, and we can expect that many of these jobs will disappear. For example, the job of driver is the most common career in about 20 of the 50 US states. In Europe the issue is more nuanced with some countries (notably Germany) suffering a chronic shortage of drivers and other, primarily Eastern European countries, holding a surfeit.

The disemployment of drivers and the subsequent unemployment will be felt most sharply in a small number of regional areas and support for these areas will need to be swift.

by autonomous vehicles and forms part of a growing movement to completely rethink the design of these cars.

The End of Driver Management

Recent developments by Toyota in the form of the e-Palette and by Volkswagen in the form of Sedric seem to lead the way. Both companies are providing accessible space as well as accessible transport. Toyota’s e-palette concept provides mobile space In this way the vehirather than a finished vehicle. cle manufacturer takes on a similar role as an aircraft manufacturer today, who will Corporate users in particular can expect not provide completed aeroplanes but to come under pressure to implement provide aircraft space that will be fitted driverless vehicles early for safety out in a different way depending on reasons and we can expect legal cases whether it’s for freight, military, private will illustrate this relatively early. or passenger use.

For corporate users, perhaps the most significant change will be the most obvious one - the absence of the driver. The removal of this human factor will be significant in many and as yet untested ways. There is certainly a removal of many of the personnel complexities that a fleet manager would usually confront, and it is likely that the concept of benefit vehicles will disappear altogether. Beyond that, it also sees the removal of the nexus between driver and vehicle and the removal of the driver’s emotional attachment to “my car”. No more arguments over eligibility or model preference!

Freight and Logistics For logistics and transport providers the impact is even more profound as it will see the removal of Human Resource factors in their entirety. Indeed, the introduction of autonomous trucks is likely to be sooner than autonomous cars and the effect more deeply felt.

Ready for Change

When the Toyota concept was unveiled in 2018, it was illustrated with three different vehicle sizes and showed examples of a barber shop and a pizza shop on wheels, allowing the “shop” to go where there was the most demand.

What’s the payoff? The most significant benefit of driverless vehicles is that they save lives. Google’s Waymo has had over 15,000,000km of testing without a significant accident. Uber, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo and almost all self-driving projects have similarly good records. The leading difficulty around car accidents for these projects is the algorithms that are used to determine the result of an accident.

Waymo appears to be the most advanced driverless car project and is currently expecting to launch unmanned vehicles to the public during 2019. Toyota have an intention to make driverless available in 2020 and most other manufacturers have similar timelines. For corporate managers, be they fleet, HR or operations, it will be important to stay abreast of these developments as they will have profound and sometimes unexpected impacts on their role. And those impacts may happen sooner than you think.

The recent introduction of Uber Freight was in no small part prompted by Uber’s since cancelled autonomous truck project and we know that Volvo is also making significant progress with the recent launch of Vera, an all-electric, autonomous truck.

Design Changes This concept of having passengers facing each other, rather than all facing each other, is one that is made available

Volkswagen’s Sedric, the first vehicle in the Volkswagen group to have been created for level 5 of autonomous driving.

FLEET EUROPE #105

Volvo’s autonomous truck Vera.

www.kia.com

Niro goes electric.

Introducing the new Kia e-Niro. The latest entry in the Kia Electrified range. There’s a new EV in town and it’s ready to roll. The new Kia e-Niro comes with a fully electric range of up to 455 km, spacious interior, the latest charging technology, and a 7-year warranty. Plenty of reasons to say that there’s nothing like a Niro.

*Max. 150,000 km vehicle warranty. Valid in all EU member states (plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Gibraltar). Deviations according to the valid guarantee conditions, e.g. for paint and equipment, subject to local terms and conditions. The WLTP combined cycle range for the e-Niro is 455 kilometres (282 miles) for the long-range 64 kWh battery pack, and 289 kilometres (179 miles) for the standard (39.2 kWh) battery pack. The specified driving range values were determined according to the legally prescribed measurement procedures (EU) 2017/1153. The above values have been tested in the new WLTP, Worldwide Harmonized Light vehicle Test Procedure, test cycle and converted back to NEDC, New European Driving Cycle, in addition measured according to the RDE, Real Driving Emissions method.