Helping to transition one of the world’s most recognized luxury brands into the 21st Century

The RPC Team designed and developed Daimler’s first fleet management system for autonomous vehicles. This included creating predictive analytics that allow their system to send vehicles to customers and maintenance more quickly by responding to real and predicted traffic flow. The system also creates better access to consumers, with more efficient positioning for vehicles based on market demand. This resulted in less employee guesswork and less time needed to manage the fleets. Live insights into the vehicles’ positions and maintenance status created reliable data for their entire targeted market, allowing them to make real-time business decisions.

Challenge
  • Prediction Demand
  • Data Acquisition
  • Web/Mobile Tech to Vehicle Communication
  • Heavy Process and Safety Documentation and Quality Checks
  • Cohesive Fleet Management
  • No Cloud Hosting or Support
  • Customer analytics and loyalty programs
Technology
  • Python
  • Angular.js
  • Node.js
  • Mongo DB
  • IBM Softlayer
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
Services
  • Custom Software Development
  • Web App Development
  • Mobile App Development
  • Legacy Modernization
  • UI/UX Design
  • Development Operations & Cloud Hosting
  • 24/7 Infrastructure Monitoring & Production Support
  • Product Security
  • Long Term Strategic Partnership

After building the fleet management system for CAR2GO, Daimler approached RPC to design and build a similar system for autonomous vehicles. This was initially an MVP that was the baseline for Daimler’s Research and Development teams in Germany. The project was initially based on brand new technology that had not yet been field tested and the RPC team oversaw the process from prototype to fleet-wide release and support. Daimler uses Mercedes-Benz vehicles and features one-way point-to-point rentals using driverless vehicles.

Apart from the general fleet management system, project control at Daimler needed to be able to understand all the variables that affect traffic patterns (city events, weather conditions, wrecks, etc.). By creating demand forecasting algorithms, the system was able to better understand how to send the vehicles to locations where they’d most likely be used. RPC project leaders integrated with several other Daimler teams all over the world to bring this technology to life. Our team of experts worked with them to understand their vision and produced a product roadmap as a reference for all future development. We followed a technology stack that our team had used on previous projects and which fit into Daimler’s technology ecosystem. After 10 months, we had our MVP up and running and started successfully testing with autonomous vehicles.

Results:

  • Successful autonomous vehicle pick up and drop off of customers
  • Deployment of first iteration of autonomous vehicle fleet management system
  • Real-time data at a glance ensuring best business decisions can be made
  • Use in-house and industry data to predict customer demand and future fleet distribution
  • Use real-time fleet management analytics to improve routing, fleet allocation, more efficient utilization, and lower costs
  • Leverage optimization techniques to better solve complex planning and scheduling problems
  • Each market can individually customize their data interactions with the system
  • Deployed a data migration strategy to make standalone services autonomous
  • Daimler can now update, support, and enhance individual services, faster
  • Developers, architects, and business leaders recognize the value that microservices can bring to the organization

Why RightPlace

Expertise:

Daimler approached RightPlace for their expertise with web based applications and proven track record to deliver successful projects. RPC’s highest goal is to establish long-term partnerships with our clients, and our successful work for their subsidiary Car2Go resulted in a request to assist with this larger rollout. We’re proud of our successes in implementing real time, data analytics-based solutions for transportation companies - and we’re always interested in helping to create solutions to fleet management and logistical problems.

Customer First Model:

As with the beginning of every new relationship, we are relentless on customer intimacy, learning all the details of the customer’s current state and to become acutely aware of business process. This made RPC the right choice to deliver on new business initiatives and become a long term strategic partner.

Technology Choice:

Here at RPC, we know there are many different technology choices out there and choosing from the vast number of tech stack choices available can be difficult. We are confident in our ability to deliver quality results across a wide range of technologies. We will not stop until we’ve identified the elements that are the best fit for your needs. We excel at helping companies educate themselves on their options and giving expert advice on strategic decisions whenever needed.

How We Work

01

Diagnose before prescribing

We clarify the real blocker before recommending a tool, platform, or build.

02

Measure what matters

We focus on practical improvements: cleaner handoffs, clearer data, faster execution, and less manual work.

03

Build for operators

Our work has to make sense for the people who actually use the system.

About RightPlace Consulting

Since 2013, RPC has helped organizations build systems, modernize workflows, improve visibility, automate recurring work, and create software that supports real business operations. Our goal is practical improvement: better handoffs, clearer data, less manual work, stronger execution, and measurable relief for the teams doing the work.

Featured Story

Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Management for Mercedes-Benz

Autonomous Vehicle Fleet Management with Demand Prediction

  • Successful autonomous vehicle pick up and drop off of customers
  • Deployment of first iteration of autonomous vehicle fleet management system

Services

Our primary goal is always to ensure that our clients have the right strategic direction and technical solution to match their challenges. Our team has proven success across a wide variety of technologies in the service offerings below.

  • Operational Performance Sprint

A focused diagnostic engagement to identify the operational blockers costing your business time, revenue, customer experience, or team capacity — then define the right path to fix them.

  • Workflow & Process Improvement

We help teams map messy workflows, identify friction, and replace recurring manual steps with clearer processes, automation, integrations, or internal tools.

  • Data, Reporting & Dashboards

We help clean up data flows, connect systems, and create practical dashboards and reports that show what is happening across pipeline, delivery, operations, customer follow-up, and revenue-impacting work.

  • CRM, Sales & Customer Handoffs

We help diagnose CRM friction, improve sales and customer handoffs, clean up follow-up workflows, and make CRM systems more useful to the teams that rely on them.

  • Web Intake & Lead Flow

We improve the path from website activity to team action through better forms, routing, alerts, qualification flows, notifications, and follow-up systems.

  • AI & Automation Opportunity Mapping

We identify where AI or automation can remove manual work, improve visibility, reduce follow-up gaps, or speed up recurring workflows — and where a simpler fix is better.

  • Application Development

When an operational blocker cannot be solved with an off-the-shelf tool, RPC can design and build scoped internal applications, portals, workflow tools, and customer-facing systems that fit the way your business actually runs.

  • Mobile & Field Tools

We help teams in the field access the workflows, forms, notifications, and operational data they need through mobile-friendly web apps and mobile application development.

  • Cloud, DevOps & System Reliability

We help improve hosting, deployment, monitoring, and infrastructure practices so critical tools stay reliable, secure, and maintainable.

  • UI/UX Design

We design interfaces that make operational tasks clearer, faster, and easier for teams in the office, in the field, or on the move.

  • Software Security

We help teams reduce operational and technical risk through practical security improvements, safer implementation patterns, and better visibility into system vulnerabilities.