Skip to main content

Avis launches mobility lab to test connected cars, Kansas City

Avis Budget Group (ABG) has launched a Mobility Lab to test a fleet of 5,000 connected vehicles across 20 car rental locations which include Kansas City International Airport, Nebraska’s Eppley Airfield and Lincoln Airport. The test aims to provide a seamless connection between Avis’ fleet management platform and its mobile app while creating opportunities to collaborate with municipalities on Smart City initiatives around the world. Passengers renting from airport and off-airport locations can make change
December 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

6454 Avis Budget Group (ABG) has launched a Mobility Lab to test a fleet of 5,000 connected vehicles across 20 car rental locations which include Kansas City International Airport, Nebraska’s Eppley Airfield and Lincoln Airport. The test aims to provide a seamless connection between Avis’ fleet management platform and its mobile app while creating opportunities to collaborate with municipalities on Smart City initiatives around the world.

Passengers renting from airport and off-airport locations can make changes, extend their rental as well as lock and unlock the car’s doors from their smartphone. 

The Mobility Lab will provide real-time inventory counts, mileage management and automated maintenance notification. The data collected aims to facilitate the enhancement of Avis’ fleet management capabilities as well as provide scalable benefits to increase the number of its connected vehicles.

Larry De Shon, president and chief executive officer, ABG, said: "Our Mobility Lab in the greater Kansas City area extends our next-generation mobility initiatives. The steps we're taking with connected car and smart technologies will increase customer satisfaction as well as reduce operational costs in the near term, while also preparing us to meet the evolving needs of consumers, entrepreneurs, corporations and governments, like the City of Kansas City, a recognized global leader for its Smart City advancements."

Related Content

  • September 25, 2023
    GridMatrix goes back to the future in New York City
    Legacy traffic management infrastructure doesn’t have to be a marker of the past: software upgrades can bring it into the present in a cost-effective and timely way, says Gordon Feller
  • July 24, 2023
    Navigating the data privacy landscape
    If customer data is not protected then the journey towards better, less polluting public transport solutions is likely to be delayed, warns Alexis Suggett of Cubic Transportation Systems
  • November 5, 2020
    CapitaLand unveils Singapore smart mobility lab
    Venture will allow Amazon and Microsoft to collaborate with local firms
  • June 2, 2014
    Strike action prompts commuters to try something different
    David Crawford highlights responses to transit disruption on both sides of the Atlantic. Shortly before workers at San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) began a lengthy round of pay and conditions-related strikes in summer 2013, impacting on the daily lives of 400,000 communities, online ridesharing group Avego publicised a new web address: bartstrike.com. By the start of the following week, Avego was encouraging stranded commuters to download its smartphone app by offering them the chance in a raffle