Connectivity and integration will be among the buzz phrases you’ll likely hear around the offices at Avis Budget Group worldwide. The company that is second only to Enterprise when it comes to size and market share plans to stay ahead of the pack of emerging players, especially those specializing in the ride-sharing industry.

To that end, Avis is projecting that 100,000 of its global fleet will be totally equipped with the latest in connective technology by the end of 2019. It’s also setting a more ambitious goal to have that number leap to 600,000 vehicles once 2020 is over. The company reported deploying some 50,000 vehicles to a cloud-based system in 2018.

Avis already has access to some of the most reliable rental car technology in the world, including products created and distributed by Bluebird Auto Rental Systems. Many of them are in place for the sake of efficiency as they simplify and speed up processes that would otherwise require a great deal of labor.

Avis also invested in other cutting-edge technology that provides regular updated information on every car in its fleet already equipped with the innovations that allow users to remotely get status readings on gas levels, odometers and diagnostic information. It’s been a steep learning curve for the company, which first got a glimpse into the possibilities that lay ahead back in 2013, when Avis bought auto-sharing company Zipcar.

The company moved towards testing vehicular connectivity in its Kansas City-based mobility lab that started operating near the end of 2017. That’s also where personnel check on the functionality of newer technological features to determine if they’re a fit for the Avis fleet.

They’re already experiencing success with the Avis mobile app that has already surpassed two million transactions since its introduction in 2016.

Customers are apparently happy with the app, as customer service feedback reported a satisfaction rate of up to 25 percent higher from consumers who use the smartphone feature as opposed to those who don’t.

While the app has proven to add a degree of convenience to booking and using an Avis vehicle, the company plans to add more possibilities down the road. Those include notifying users about tourist sites whenever a connect rental drives into a virtual boundary made possible by geo-fencing features. Another project involves a more dynamic access-in-demand model, enabling customers to rent a vehicle wherever they want, as opposed to booking one at an Avis outlet.

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