Otto Car uses Samsara to cut CO2 emissions by 50K tonnes, improving London’s air quality for everyone

“The best businesses of the future will be the ones that are good for the planet and good for the people they serve. We’re not going to wait for the future to come to us – we’re going to lean into the future, and Samsara’s technology is going to help us achieve that goal.”  Gurinder Dhillon, CEO and Founder

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Standout Benefits

• 50,000 tonnes decrease in CO2 emissions annually

• Achieved 100+ million green miles driven by their EV fleet, equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by 2 million trees 

• 3-4% accident ratio maintained, despite increasing the Otto Car fleet by around 2,000 vehicles

A pledge to clean up London’s air  

Otto Car’s mission is to protect its fleet and bring drivers home to their loved ones in a safe, sustainable way – and this starts with resolving London’s air pollution problem. 

Spurred on by the story of the first child in London whose death was directly attributed to air pollution, Otto Car founder Gurinder Dhillon said, “It really brought it home to me. I knew then, we would never purchase any kind of diesel cars again. Our drivers live in these communities, so it’s about what we can do on an everyday basis to help clear up pollution.”

As Europe’s largest provider of private hire vehicles, Otto Car caters to over 5,600 rideshare drivers, moving more than 75,000 people daily, nearly filling Wembley Stadium each day. Currently, levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in London frequently exceed the recommended limits set by the UK government, posing risks of respiratory diseases, cardiovascular problems, and the exacerbation of conditions like asthma. 

Addressing this issue is at the forefront of Otto Car’s agenda.

A challenging landscape for Otto Car 

The effectiveness of sustainability initiatives is notoriously difficult to track. Accurately measuring environmental impact — and specifically, any fluctuations in a company’s CO2 output — requires a huge amount of data. Otto Car specifically needed access to accurate data regarding EV mileage, battery health and degradation rate, and driver behaviour. 

To add to the challenge, Otto Car cannot inspire positive change or sustainability initiatives without its drivers or its electric fleet. That’s why it's vital Otto Car does everything possible to ensure drivers can work effectively and safely.

However, a 2022 internal driver risk management review demonstrated Otto Car had an overreliance on initial practical driving assessments with an instructor at the start of a rental period, and insufficient contact or reviews with a driver once the rental vehicle had been supplied. This made it difficult to monitor, analyse, and intervene in cases of poor or unsafe driving, resulting in increased risk of road traffic accidents and more damage to vehicles. 

Prioritising safety alongside sustainability 

Samsara telematics made collecting and monitoring sustainability data a seamless process. The team was able to effectively calculate the success of its ESG initiatives, demonstrating that they managed to prevent 50k tonnes of CO2 from being admitted into the atmosphere in just a year. 

To better protect both its drivers and fleet — and reduce the risk of road traffic accidents — in-cab dashcams and AI-powered alerts were also installed as part of a proactive approach to safety. These Samsara solutions not only reduced high-risk driving behaviours such as speeding, harsh braking, and aggressive turning, but also saved money on repairs, insurance premiums, and false claim payouts by providing high-quality evidence where necessary. As a result, Otto Car has sustained an accident rate of just 3-4%, despite increasing the number of vehicles in its fleet to over 5,600. 

Thanks to these improvements, Otto Car can not only continue its work of improving the air quality in and around London, it can also keep drivers safe. 

“Our partnership with Samsara has helped us grow through using technology to bring greater safety,” said Gurinder. “And with that, we’ve been able to reduce our insurance costs and have better data insights into our vehicles.” 

Using Samsara to drive long-term change

 By expanding its utilisation of Samsara, Otto Car recently greatly increased the volume of its driver contacts as part of its Driver Reach Program. The team now manages driver performance far more effectively by taking a proactive approach to safety and widening evaluation beyond just front-end driving assessments. 

"We altered our approach and focused our attention on addressing poor driving behaviour observed by Samsara camera systems installed in the vast majority of our vehicles, in order to increase our driver contact each week." said Chris Macpherson, Head of Insurance, Claims, and Driver Development.

This proactive approach enables the Otto Car Driving Development Team to identify high-risk drivers and intervene before an incident occurs. This not only helps protect electric vehicles in London, but also empowers drivers to carry out their day to day role safely and effectively, which contributes to Otto Car’s true purpose: reducing air pollution in London long-term.