Fiat eco:Drive
New technology set to boost fleet fuel efficiency, one driver at a timeFiat has announced it's to make its clever eco:Drive system available in a special version to help large corporate fleet managers maximise the overall fuel efficiency of their vehicles en masse, and minimise their organisations' carbon footprint.
The system provides managers and drivers with in-depth analysis of driving patterns and their effect on fuel consumption and turns it into advice on how to drive to maximise fuel efficiency. The company says testing has shown the potential for fuel savings of up to 15 per cent.
Eco:Drive is now standard kit with Fiat's Blue&Me telematics and comms system. It's like a kindly big brother hiding in the dash, collecting vehicle mileage and fuel consumption data for retrospective analysis, effectively allowing fleet managers to monitor the patterns, skills and shortcomings of individual drivers and suggest changes to driving behaviour to boost fuel efficiency.
"Rather than give generalised, unfocused advice on how to drive more economically, it examines the skills of each driver and gives personalised advice specific to each on how to hone their skills and drive more economically," explains Andrei Zaitzev, General Manager of Fiat Australia.
The Fleet version adds database functions, providing fleet managers with a consolidated body of data with the kind of slice-and-dice and drill-down capacities that are standard fare across so many other corporate analysis and business intelligence systems. It automatically updates the database with information like management costs and the kilometre count for maintenance intervals.
With Blue&Me already well established in Europe, thanks to a partnership with Microsoft, the eco:Drive upgrade technology has already attracted the attention of high-end corporates in Europe, such as Bosch (which helped develop it) and Coca-Cola.
More than 100,000 copies of the system have been downloaded to date since its launch at the Paris Motor Show in 2009. It's used by more than 32,000 drivers a day, with more than 4 million journeys already logged and analysed on Fiat's purpose built website. Fiat estimates it has already saved around 2500 tonnes in CO2 emissions.
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