Avis Budget Group and Ford Team Up to Connect Cars, Enhance Car Rental Experience
October 23 2018 - 9:00AM
To make renting vehicles even easier for customers and to improve
efficiency, Avis Budget Group, Inc.
(NASDAQ: CAR)
today announces an agreement with Ford Commercial Solutions to
connect more than 35,000 Ford Motor Company vehicles in Avis Budget
Group’s U.S. fleet.
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. Even returning a rental vehicle is automated with
connected technology, allowing customers to drop off their vehicles
through a simple tap in the Avis app.
Additionally, these connected Ford vehicles will provide
valuable telemetry data in real time, including odometer, fuel
level and vehicle condition updates, allowing Avis Budget Group
fleet managers to process information they need to more quickly
prepare vehicles for customers.
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, reducing
typical downtime and device management efforts currently required.
More than 10,000 Ford vehicles in the Avis Budget Group fleet are
expected to be connected by the end of 2018, and more than 35,000
by summer 2019.
“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,” said Arthur Orduña, chief
innovation officer, Avis Budget Group. “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.”
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. Through this partnership,
Ford Data Services takes advantage of Ford vehicles’ built-in
connectivity and transfers data directly from vehicles to the TMC
without the need for additional third-party hardware, management or
installation downtime. The data is then easily relayed to the fleet
owner’s internal IT system or telematics service via the TMC —
giving businesses easy access to valuable information that can
improve their operations and the overall customer experience.
“Ford Data Services and the TMC make it possible to deliver
real-time connectivity across a fleet, enabling new data collection
and insights. These insights make daily operations more efficient
for our partners and their customers,” said Lee Jelenic, chief
executive officer, Ford Commercial Solutions. “We are thrilled to
work with Avis Budget Group, whose commitment to a fully connected
fleet matches ours as we deliver 100 percent new vehicle
connectivity in North America by the end of 2019.”
A business unit of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, Ford Commercial
Solutions has one goal — to help fleets improve their operational
effectiveness by offering OEM-grade data verified by Ford
engineers, such as fuel use and vehicle health alerts. For more
information on Ford Commercial Solutions, please visit
www.commercialsolutions.ford.com.
About Avis Budget GroupAvis Budget Group, Inc.
is a leading global provider of mobility solutions, both through
its Avis and Budget brands, which have more than 11,000 rental
locations in approximately 180 countries around the world, and
through its Zipcar brand, which is the world’s leading car sharing
network, with more than one million members. Avis Budget Group
operates most of its car rental offices in North America, Europe
and Australasia directly, and operates primarily through licensees
in other parts of the world. Avis Budget Group has approximately
31,000 employees and is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. More
information is available at www.avisbudgetgroup.com.
About Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor Company is a
global company based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company designs,
manufactures, markets and services a full line of Ford cars,
trucks, SUVs, electrified vehicles and Lincoln luxury vehicles,
provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company and
is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, autonomous
vehicles and mobility solutions. Ford employs approximately 201,000
people worldwide. For more information regarding Ford, its products
and Ford Motor Credit Company, please visit
corporate.ford.com/.
About the Transportation Mobility Cloud
(TMC)The Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC) is the first
open cloud-based platform that connects the diverse components of
urban mobility systems, including connected vehicles, mass transit,
pedestrians, city infrastructure and service providers — with the
goal of orchestrating a safer, more efficient and sustainable
transportation network. For more information regarding the TMC
please visit www.autonomic.ai.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release
contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the
anticipated benefits of connected vehicles, the timing of when the
Company will have connected vehicles in its fleet and the
anticipated benefits of partnering with Ford Commercial Solutions.
In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions and factors,
the forward-looking events discussed in this press release may not
occur. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated,
or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release.
Important assumptions and other important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements are specified in Avis Budget Group’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017,
and in other filings and furnishings made by the Company with the
SEC from time to time. Except to the extent required by applicable
federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to
release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements,
to report events or to report the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
Contacts:
Alice Pereira
Avis Budget Group
(973) 496-3916
PR@avisbudget.com
Michaela Johndrow
Ford Motor Company
(313) 400-1105
mjohndro@ford.com
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