Katie Sheehan (kes2221)
Sustainability Problem : Transportation
Transportation accounts for about 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (EPA, 2019), and America has the highest density of car ownership in the world (821 cars per 1,000 people as of 2015). Transportation in the coming decades needs to shift away from individual ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and towards more sustainable solutions such as public transportation, EVs, and ride- or car-sharing platforms.
Solution: Fleetonomy
As city populations increase and ride-sharing usage increases in popularity, vehicle fleet owners (both private companies and municipalities) can benefit from more efficient deployment of resources and fleet size reductions, while offering customers more flexible vehicle use options that can further accelerate the sharing economy. Fleetonomy is a mobility software that can be used by vehicle fleet owners to launch/control ride-sharing platforms, control a car-subscription service, or use a more standard car rental platform, while providing resources and benefits such as fleet simulation, optimizing scheduling and vehicle dispatch, and customization for clients.
Service Visualization
Fleetonomy allows users to fully simulate their current or proposed service, allowing for geo-, asset-, and service-specific parameters such as the need to keep EVs charged, service type, and location constraints into account in order to find efficiencies, right-size level of service, and measure performance against specified KPIs.
Scheduling & Dispatch
The Fleetonomy software allows users to enhance operational efficiency through driver/car roster management, dynamic routing, and real-time monitoring, to get resources where they need to go from a managerial and current demand perspective.
Personalization
Fleetonomy’s data insights allow for optimized asset allocations through visibility on customer preferences and trends in different locations, for a variety of service types that can also account for accessibility and other special need constraints.
Stakeholders
Using software platforms like Fleetonomy will benefit vehicle fleet owners, ride-sharing drivers, and individual consumers looking for alternatives to individual car ownership in urban and suburban locations. Vehicle fleet owners/ride-sharing companies will be able to improve resource efficiency and deployment, allowing for increased response to real-time consumer demand while also predicting future business needs. Using increased real-time and predictive analytics will ensure ride-sharing drivers are dispatched more efficiently and right-size driver fleets which could increase individual earnings and avoid localized emissions from having drivers ride around for blocks and/or idle in city centers waiting for rides to be requested. Finally, by increasing insights on the fleet owner/ride-sharing side, companies will be able to visualize and respond to customer trends and market conditions, allowing for increased options for ride- and car-sharing service offerings for individual consumers, further removing barriers to the transportation sharing economy.
Implementation
Fleetonomy was recently acquired by the ride-sharing and “transitech” Via (Oct 2020), which plans to use the platform to “apply Fleetonomy’s technology and expertise in demand prediction and fleet utilization to advance its digitally-powered logistics solutions”. The immediate-term focus seems to be on public transportation and delivery logistics planning, but Via’s ride-sharing service would also benefit from this platform, and the acquired company could continue to build on its partnerships with car companies and owners of physical car fleets to plan for adjacent solutions in the rental car/car-sharing space.
Sources:
makeasmartcity 