"The fleet manager has become a psychologist": Ronny Van den Driesch on data, AI and trust

Ronny Van den Driesch is vice-president of the Fleet & Mobility Federation. With nearly 30 years of experience as a fleet manager, he now shares his expertise as an independent expert. We spoke with him about data, AI, privacy, rising oil prices and why fleet managers are slowly becoming psychologists too.

Data is no longer a by-product

Fleet management used to run on gut feeling and Excel. Today, data drives every decision. But more data does not automatically mean better decisions.

"The world is moving faster, and fleet has to move faster too. Companies want more with less."

He sees two blind spots coming up more and more often.

• Blind spot 1: mileage. With combustion engines, every fill-up automatically provided a reading. That data feed disappears with electric vehicles.

"Fleet managers no longer have an automatic overview of mileage. We need to move towards automation. The most critical information remains: how many kilometres has that vehicle already covered?"

• Blind spot 2: idle fees. Vehicles that stay connected to a charger after a full charge cost a lot of money. And those costs are hard to detect today.

"Say you have a thousand vehicles. Ten to twenty of them stay plugged in after charging, costing €300 in idle fees per vehicle per month. Do the math. If you want to keep TCO under control, you need to track that. Charging consumption and idle fees need to be visible separately, otherwise you cannot see where the costs are coming from."

The fleet manager has become a psychologist

The role of fleet manager has changed fundamentally over the past few years. Technically and humanly.

"The fleet manager has essentially become a psychologist. They first had to sell electric vehicles to their people."

The resistance was real. Employees worried about range and charging infrastructure. Ronny tackled that with data and patience.

"People told me: I only have 400 km of range, I cannot go on holiday with that car. I asked: how many kilometres do you drive on average per day? 100 km? You have a range of 400 km. So what is the problem? Step by step."

The same story plays out around awareness of charging costs.

"In the past you asked people: what does a litre of diesel cost? Few people could answer that. Now it is the same with electricity. They have an app, but some apps only show the price a day later. By then it is too late."

AI: from buzzword to TCO tool

The most concrete benefit of AI today lies in TCO calculations.

"Right now it is all quite cumbersome: comparing TCOs, putting vehicles side by side. With AI you can do that much faster."

Lease duration is also ripe for a data-driven approach. Some leasing companies are pushing towards 72 months for EVs. Is that objectively justified?

"Right now it is simply: the car costs more, so we spread it over longer. But maybe 60 months is still the optimum, also for driver motivation. Driving a car for four years feels different from six."

He rarely hears resistance to AI. The speed of adoption varies though.

"Younger people pick it up faster, older people take a bit longer. My message: get on board. If a company feels comfortable with Excel, that is their choice too. You can recommend it, you cannot impose it."

Privacy starts with trust

Data and privacy are in permanent tension. The line between useful monitoring and intrusive control is thin.

Group feedback works better than individual monitoring. If you see a pattern across many drivers, that is a communication issue. Unusual behaviour from one person calls for a conversation, not a dashboard.

On fraud, Ronny is clear.

"Fraudsters always start small. Five litres of fuel too many, nobody notices. Then ten litres. They get overconfident. Sooner or later it comes out. Through colleagues or through the data."

And who exposes them most often? Usually colleagues, before the system even picks it up. His basic rule:

"97% of people genuinely care about their company. 3% do not. The important thing is to give that 97% trust and keep an eye on the 3%."

The oil price as an accelerator

Diesel was at €2.20 to €2.30 per litre in May, petrol around €1.80. Ronny does not expect a significant drop.

"Companies will calculate their TCO and say: we are switching to electric. Also because the fiscal treatment of ICE vehicles gets more expensive year after year."

"Unfortunately, every crisis has its benefits too. The benefit now is that people are being woken up."

One important point to flag: the updated Renta norm, revised for the first time since 2015. Leasing companies are now applying the full permitted damage amounts at end of contract, partly because EV residual values have come in lower than expected. For fleet managers, that means one thing: briefing employees early and clearly on what is expected at return.

Three words remain

The role of fleet manager is evolving fast. From vehicle manager to data strategist. From cost tracker to CSRD reporter. The core stays the same.

"Three words will always apply: follow-up, communication and guidance. The tools change. The principles do not."