Now GE Capital’s fleet services division is rolling out a dashboard service of its own called “Integrated Solutions” in the United Kingdom for light vehicle fleets; a system the company calls “an online tool” to help fleet managers to prioritise the most effective actions to reduce costs and improve driver safety based on real fleet data.
Will we see it come to the U.S. market? That remains to be seen.
GE Capital explained that its Integrated Solutions system aggregates fleet data, including costs incurred from driver speeding fines, the cost of any accidents in which employees may have been involved, the cost of non-standard maintenance and tire replacement, end of life damage charges the driver may have incurred and risk assessment scores.
Once all that data is compiled, the software then churns out reports showing the frequency and cost of all major aspects of individual driver behaviours, noted Gary Killeen (at left), fleet services commercial leader for GE Capital UK.
“We created Integrated Solutions in response to our customer needs with several of them actively involved in highly successful development trials with 6,000 vehicles during the second half of last year,” he pointed out.
“Looking at the different criteria enables fleet managers to build up an unrivalled picture of the way their drivers behave on the road and to plan their future risk management strategy in order to cut costs and improve driver safety,” Killeen added.
The goal this technology is supposed to help fleet managers achieve is quite simple, he emphasized: drive down accidents and risks by focusing on those drivers causing the highest costs and highest risks.
“For example, a driver that neglects their vehicle and has poor miles per gallon (MPG) figures, regular accidents and higher than average tire replacements can be identified at a glance, even at cost centre level,” Killeen said. “Meanwhile a driver who sticks to the speed limit, posts MPG figures that suggest careful use of the accelerator and has never had an accident is less of a priority for management action.”
GE Capital projects that a fleet adopting its Integrated Solutions system should see a 25% reduction in accident costs, 10% lower fuel costs, a 5% saving in fines administration, a 5% reduction in non-standard maintenance and tyre abuse and up to a 30% decrease in end of life damage “re-charges.”
The firm added that future enhancements, available later this year, will include third party data such as the number of penalty points on each driver’s licence, MPG figures and additional accident information about who is at fault. “This will provide an even more exhaustive and accurate picture of what is happening on each fleet,” Killeen noted.
Just goes to show that no matter where you go in the fleet world, driver “dashboards” are sure to follow. It’s one of the realities of the increasingly technological- and data-driven modern society.