Big Questions, Big Answers At NAFA Pacific Southwest Chapter Meeting
NAFA Chapter Meetings are where big questions get answered. Case in point, the Pacific Southwest Chapter's session on July 22 at the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) in Diamond Bar, CA. The subjects -- air quality management, new technologies, sustainability. and grants to make those changes -- didn't have a single "lightweight" in the bunch.
Dean Saito, Science and Technology Advancement, Mobile Source Division for South Coast AQMD, set out the key challenges fleet will need to address if they intend to make a difference in air quality. He identified the following as important marker from which this can happen: bringing forward advanced zero- and near-zero emission technologies as soon as possible, accelerating turnover of legacy vehicles/ equipment, actions to enhance transportation infrastructure (improve mobility, goods movement efficiency), and greater use of renewable fuels and renewable energy.
Saito also discussed a wide range of grants that fleets can leverage to move into more sustainable practices.
Technology plays a major role in air quality also, and will impact the full gamut of the driving experience in the near-future, said Automotive Fleet Editor and NAFA Affiliate Mike Antich. But technology will also soon be the dominant component of the car, not the diver, Antich asserted, launching into a history on where self-driving cars have come from and where they will soon be.
He described the various technologies, mostly given rise through the military, that now affect semi-autonomous vehicle functions and will be the primary systems behind fully-autonomous cars and trucks. Adaptive cruise control, lane departure, pedestrian avoidance, frontal collision automatic braking, and parking assist all allude to a brave new world of automotive functionality.
Tying sustainability with technology again, Toyota offered a Ride & Drive with their new Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car during the lunch break.
Toward the end of the day, the Chapter sat in on a question and answer session with Dan Berlenbach from City of Long Beach, talking about his experience working with fleet in the government and city sector.
It was quite a bit of information to take in, but that's what makes regular attendance to NAFA Chapter meetings so important for a fleet professional's continuing education. Each one can teach you something new, refresh you on something you already knew, and help you get to know peers that will help you learn even more.
Special thanks to Jessica DeLisio, Mike Wade, and Debbie Struna for information in this article.