Hertz and Palantir Technologies Inc., which bills itself as "a builder of operating systems for the modern enterprise," announced on Oct. 19 a multi-year partnership. According to a press release, the investment is part of Hertz's commitment to modernize its technology platforms as it seeks to lead in electrification, shared mobility, and digital-first customer service.

"Technology is an important lever to stay ahead of ever evolving consumer expectations and a key enabler for our strategy to deliver world-class service," said Tim Langley-Hawthorne, chief information officer at Hertz. "Our partnership with Palantir enables us to harness our data in innovative new ways that will get our customers on the road more quickly, improve our cost structure and reduce the complexities of operating a large fleet and as we continue investing in electrification."

Hertz is using the Palantir Foundry operating system to create a platform that will help the company efficiently manage and operate its fleet of nearly 500,000 vehicles, which now includes tens of thousands of EVs. The platform will provide vehicle availability insights based on rental status, service orders, location, and registration data, to create a single source that uses an algorithm to make the best use of assets and decrease out-of-service vehicles – thereby also reducing operating costs and help customers get on the road faster.

Hertz has already seen a reduction in time from vehicle purchase to rent and a decline in out of service rates through predictive fleet operations, according to the announcement.