The First Word With NAFA CEO Phillip E. Russo, CAE

Today’s vehicles are almost entirely dependent upon some form of high technology – including being wirelessly connected – for both performance and convenience.  It is highly likely you have vehicles in your fleet that have wireless capability ranging from keyless entry to ignition control, from tire pressure monitoring to diagnostics, and from navigation to entertainment systems.

This interaction between vehicle systems, wireless communications, and diagnostic ports is both an opportunity and a challenge for fleet managers. The tremendous amount of data being collected from these connected vehicles provides you the opportunity to make better, more informed, and more timely decisions about your vehicles. However, the systems and passageways through which that data flows may put vehicles and entire operating systems at risk for cyber attacks.

For the past 18 months or so, NAFA has been working with government agencies and experts in the field of cybersecurity to identify and address the fleet industry’s primary concerns about connected vehicles. Most recently, a small group of hand-selected fleet managers worked with NAFA’s Legislative Counsel Patrick O’Connor to develop a white paper on this issue. Here are the five primary concerns they identified:

1. Security: With vehicles becoming more and more dependent on technology, automakers are growing increasingly concerned with cyber hackers and vulnerabilities in their line-ups. These vulnerabilities present challenges for fleet management in being able to continue utilizing new technology, while also ensuring that the fleet is protected from malicious or criminal activity.  

2. Privacy: Today’s vehicles collect personal information through in-car technologies. Sensitive information, such as geolocation and driver behavior information, merits heightened protections.

3. Access to the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD II) Port: The OBD port was designed to collect emissions data, but is now used by fleets for telematics and vehicle diagnostics.  The OBD port is vulnerable to malicious attacks by third parties that intentionally put malware or spyware in their programs.  However, eliminating the OBD port, as has been suggested by some OEMs, creates another set of problems for fleet managers dependent on the port for useful data.

4. Ownership and Collection of Data: The connected vehicle generates and transmits large amounts of data. Some of this data is collected by OEMs to monitor driving history and vehicle performance.  It has not been decided who should be able to collect data, what data they should be able to collect, who owns that data, or what they are able to do with it.

5. Telematics: The technology of telematics will improve exponentially over the next several years and public policy adopted today must be forward looking.

NAFA has taken a collaborative and proactive approach to cybersecurity and the solutions needed to take advantage of connected vehicle technology while protecting the vehicle.  In the past few weeks we have reached out to more than 40 organizations identified as stakeholders in this issue.  We are spreading the word to industry media, as well as to the public media, to make everyone aware of this issue.  As the largest, most representative, and most powerful fleet industry association, it is our duty to lead this conversation and the collaborative efforts with OEMs, federal and state governments, third-party providers, and the auto care industry to ensure fleet managers’ perspectives are given full consideration.

To make yourself fully informed about the issue of the connected vehicle, I recommend you tune in to NAFA’s free webinar on this subject taking place Wednesday, October 5, at 10:30 am Eastern Time.  The webinar will feature the unveiling of NAFA’s white paper on the connected vehicle, point out many of the yet unanswered questions that fleet managers should be considering, and emphasize NAFA’s recommendations for addressing those issues.
 
Fleet Management and the Connected Vehicle
Wednesday, October 5, 10:30 am Eastern Time.
Register now by clicking here.
 
Speakers for this webinar will be:

• Patrick O'Connor - NAFA's Legislative Counsel in Washington D.C. and President of Kent & O'Connor
• Jeff Jeter - NAFA's Vice President and Fleet Manager, Chesterfield County
• Oleg Cytowicz - NAFA's Board of Delegates Vice Chair and Global Fleet Lead Senior Analyst NA Fleet Ops, Unilever
• Robert Martinez - NAFA's U.S. Government Fleet Representative and Deputy Commissioner, New York Police Department

You should be very concerned about the challenges posed by connected vehicles...but it’s not too late to get out in front of the issue and make smart decisions for your employer.  Your first step, if you haven’t already taken it, can be to inform yourself of the issues by tuning in to NAFA’s webinar on October 5.  

Let NAFA help you.

Sincerely,

Phil