In a bid to further develop and deploy sustainable mobility solutions, tire giant Bridgestone Americas has reached an agreement to purchase Azuga Holdings Inc., a maker of connected vehicle platforms.
Under the $391 million deal, the acquisition will accelerate Bridgestone’s mobility strategy and the Azuga fleet management platform will complement Bridgestone’s portfolio of cloud-based fleet mobility solutions.
Azuga’s platform is designed for small to enterprise-sized fleets, providing real-time vehicle operations insights and data analytics to improve safety, increase efficiency and enhance services. The platform will allow Bridgestone to capture data about its core tire products and artificial intelligence solutions.
“Azuga is revolutionizing the way that fleets do business in the U.S. with class-leading software and a rapid innovation process that will further advance Bridgestone’s vision to be a sustainable solutions company,” said Paolo Ferrari, global chief solutions business officer at Bridgestone Corp. and president and CEO of Bridgestone Americas. “We are working toward providing the most sustainable and intelligent solutions for safer and more efficient mobility, and Azuga will help us accelerate their development and deployment to our customers.”
The Azuga platform is a fleet management tool that includes:
- GPS tracking
- Video telematics
- Driver behavior management
- Accident reduction solutions for insurers
Additionally, the system helps fleets improve safety on the road, and reduce fuel consumption and wear and tear on vehicles.
Bridgestone said the acquisition continues the company’s evolution toward sustainable solutions and its investments in future technologies such as its recent investment in autonomous long-haul trucking company Kodiak Robotics.
(Learn more about the levels of self-driving cars on Globalspec.com.)
