Demystifying the impact of autonomous driving on fleet management.

Autonomous driving has the potential to bring fundamental changes in the automotive industry. From a semi-automated to fully automated driving system, autonomous driving typically refers to self-driving or autonomous vehicles or transport systems that drive without the intervention of a human driver. This driving system is expected to have an impact on the future car fatalities and the reduction of deaths and injuries, particularly those from driver distraction.

As automotive manufacturers continue exploring innovative ways to define the future of the connected car and autonomous vehicles, autonomous driving has a potential impact on fleet management. With the computing power essential for artificial intelligence in a connected vehicle becomes reality, along with smart sensors and cameras becoming more economical, fleet managers today are empowered with a snowballing amount of data that can assist them in cutting costs and maintaining efficiency. And it will continue to get more dynamic when the transition from traditional vehicle systems to autonomous vehicles instigates.

This will not just eliminate the control of the steering wheel, brake pedal, etc., from human’s fleet management equation, but also remove the access of fuelling and charging a vehicle, cleaning and taking cars in for maintenance and others from a human driver. From advanced sensor technology to smart control systems and intelligent actuators, all complex systems are contributing to the transformation of fleet management.

Despite this, the role of a fleet manager remains crucial as fleets powered by an autonomous driving system will still require back-office staff and managers who can trace and supervise every move a vehicle makes one the road. They will sense issues before they become overpriced or treacherous to the driving public. 

Integrating Autonomous Vehicles with Fleet Management Systems

With the rise of autonomous vehicles, the amount of data generated by location, surroundings, route and systems will likely increase at an unprecedented rate. According to reports, Google’s self-driving car gleans 750 megabytes of sensor data every second. There is no doubt that this voluminous amount of data is valuable and promises many advantages to fleet owners. 

This data should be even adequately protected from hackers that always in look for stealing sensitive data causing an accident. In this way, as fleet managers may face a set of challenges, they must ensure their software systems are both state-of-the-art and continually updated to alleviate the potential risks.

When it comes to managing fleets manually, chances of accidents may high and are even more expensive, causing lost productivity, liability payments and increased repair costs. On the other side, taking humans out of the fleet management equation will have fewer impacts on car crashes. 

Although autonomous vehicles are yet to use outside the trial phase, there have been notable failings. For instance, a self-driving vehicle operated by Uber hit and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona in March 2018. With effective fleet management systems, it is expected that AVs will cause fewer or no crashes, benefiting fleet managers through AV safety protocols.