All the key news in fleet…

The 2018 Nissan LEAF will gain semi-autonomous functionality from Nissan’s ProPilot tech.

Nissan LEAF to get ProPilot semi-autonomous tech

The new Nissan LEAF will feature ProPilot technology, bringing autonomous drive functionality for motorways.

The technology will control the steering, acceleration and braking in a single lane on the highway, assisting drivers during heavy traffic congestion or during long commutes, with increasing levels of autonomy to be offered in the technology in the coming years, including navigating urban junctions.

(L-R) Richard Hipkiss of Fleet Operations welcomes new business development manager Kris Howarth.

New business development manager at Fleet Operations

Fleet Operations has appointed Kris Howarth as its new business development manager.

Howarth joins from Inchcape and brings more than 15 years’ experience in the fleet automotive sector, including business development roles with Activa Contracts, Koelliker UK and Corporate Motor Finance.

His new position will see him responsible for strategic sales development, helping to expand Fleet Operations’ existing client base across the UK in line with the company’s commercial growth targets.

Managing director Richard Hipkiss said of Howarth: “He has demonstrated an impressive understanding of Fleet Operation’s business model and I’m confident of his success in helping us achieve our ambitious plans for growth.”

Prices of diesel cars advertised over the last 12 months have remained stable, despite ‘diesel demonisation’, says Glass’s.

Diesel demonisation not impacting on regional values, says Glass’s

Negative diesel press is yet to impact on regional used car values, according to latest analysis by Glass’s.

According to forecast editor, Andy Cutler, despite much talk of ‘dirty diesels’, prices of diesel cars advertised over the last 12 months have remained stable, shown by data from Glass’s Rada product which can analyse retail asking prices by region. Cutler added that it’s actually Scotland where values have fallen the most and the majority of dealers in Scotland have said that they don’t really see a problem with diesels.

Car insurance bills have soared by more than five times the rate of inflation, with June’s IPT rise adding to the pressure.

Car insurance up 15.7% in last year

Car insurance bills have rocketed 15.7% over the past year – more than five times inflation, due to action by regulators to change the way personal injury compensation pay-outs are calculated.

The analysis by Consumer Intelligence found the average premium now stands at £666 and younger drivers pay nearly double at £1,202.

Average motor insurance premiums have increased by 34.6% since October 2013 according to estimates by the firm, which said June’s Insurance Premium Tax rise will further add to the pressure.

The updates to FleetWave offer multi-currency and other new global features for cross-border fleets.

Chevin introduces new global software features

Chevin has updated its FleetWave fleet software solution with multi-currency and other new global features for cross-border fleets.

The new multi-currency feature enables currencies to be rendered in multiple ways depending on the user or system configurations.

Also available in FleetWave are customisable fuel economy labels (‘CO2’ or ‘ECO’ labels), which are used to categorise how much a vehicle pollutes and can be configured with region specific values, colours and defaults to provide more detailed definitions and indicate vehicles that are rated outside any company emissions policy.

FleetWave also brings multilingual support, with local language options and metrics defined by each user in any region eliminating the need for manual translation.

Since June 2012, London boroughs have been able to issue civil fines for littering from vehicles.

One in three drivers admit to littering Britain’s roads

More than 13 million drivers are littering on Britain’s roads, despite government plans to start introducing fines.

UK drivers were polled by car leasing specialist Leasing Options on their attitudes to littering, with 35% admitting to throwing rubbish out of their car window.

Younger drivers were the worst culprits, with a huge 64% of 18 to 24-year-olds polled admitting to littering, compared to just 10% of drivers aged over 65.

In London, civil enforcement officers already have the power to issue a penalty charge notice if they have reason to believe litter was thrown from a vehicle and the Litter Strategy for England puts forward proposals to extend this to the rest of the country.

Existing noise reduction barriers along the M40.

M40 to get noise barriers 

Highways England is to install new barriers to help cut out traffic noise for people living along a section of the M40 under a £5m plan.

Highways England will install new noise reducing barriers at eight locations along the M40 between Loudwater (near junction 3 of the motorway) and Stokenchurch (near junction 5) in Buckinghamshire.

The plans are now available online, and a public event will be held on 30 June in High Wycombe. Construction is due to start in the autumn.