Avis Budget Group today announced an agreement with Ford Commercial Solutions to connect approximately 14,000 Ford vehicles in Avis Budget Group’s European fleet.

Connected vehicles allow Avis customers to manage their entire rental experience through the Avis mobile app, including choosing the type of vehicle they want to rent, upgrading and extending the duration of their rental from their phones. Even returning a rental vehicle is automated with connected technology, allowing customers to drop off their vehicles through a simple tap in the Avis app.

Additionally, these connected Ford vehicles will provide valuable telemetry data in real time, including mileage, fuel level, and vehicle condition updates. This allows a faster turnaround for customers, as Avis Budget Group fleet managers can process information they need more quickly.

Ford Commercial Solutions is providing an embedded telematics solution that offers a way for Avis Budget Group to connect vehicles, reducing typical cost and complexity of implementing aftermarket solutions. More than 4,000 Ford vehicles in the Avis Budget Group fleet are expected to be connected by the end of 2019, and a further 10,000 vehicles by the end of 2020.

To connect its embedded telematics solution, Ford Commercial Solutions is using the Transportation Mobility Cloud (TMC) from Autonomic, an open platform that securely manages information flow to and from vehicles’ embedded modems.

Through this partnership, Ford Data Services takes advantage of Ford vehicles’ built-in connectivity and transfers data directly from vehicles to the TMC without the need for additional third-party hardware, management or installation downtime. The data is then relayed to the fleet owner’s internal IT system or telematics service via the TMC.