Avis Budget Group and Ford Commercial Solutions have reached an agreement to connect more than 35,000 Ford vehicles in Avis Budget Group’s U.S. fleet.
Officials said the partnership would enhance and ease the vehicle renting process while also improving efficiency. Connected vehicles allow Avis customers to manage their entire rental experience through the Avis mobile app, including choosing the type of vehicle they want to rent and extending the duration of their rental.
Connected Ford vehicles provide valuable telemetry data in real time, officials said, including odometer, fuel level, and vehicle condition updates, allowing Avis Budget Group fleet managers to process information they need to prepare vehicles for customers more quickly.
“With more than 100,000 connected vehicles in our Avis Budget Group fleet and growing, the relationship with Ford Commercial Solutions is a significant milestone in our commitment to achieve a fully connected fleet by 2020,” Arthur Orduña, chief innovation officer at Avis Budget Group, said. “It allows us to expand our connected ecosystem and work with an organization that shares our mutual goal to push the boundaries of connectivity and innovation as we charge into a new era for mobility.”
Ford Commercial Solutions is providing an embedded telematics solution called Ford Data Services, which offers a simplified and efficient way for Avis Budget Group to connect vehicles.
To connect its embedded telematics solution, Ford Commercial Solutions is using the Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC) from Autonomic, an open platform that securely manages information flow to and from vehicles’ embedded modems.
“Ford Data Services and the TMC make it possible to deliver real-time connectivity across a fleet, enabling new data collection and insights,” Lee Jelenic, Ford Commercial Solutions CEO, said. “These insights make daily operations more efficient for our partners and their customers.”