IT Operations Manager

DPD UK and USPS take top fleet titles in The Optimizers Awards 2026. * 9 July 2026 * 0 * Natalie Middleton Fleet management platform Autofleet has officially announced the winners of the 2026 Optimizers Awards, celebrating outstanding innovation and measurable business impact in global fleet and mobility operations. The annual programme recognises those at the forefront of operational progress, from route optimisation and fleet automation to AI-powered scaling, utilisation improvement and high-impact execution. The winners show how operational innovation can deliver measurable impact across cost, scalability, sustainability and customer experience, setting benchmarks for the future of fleet and mobility operations. The Optimizers Awards 2026 winners. Best Route Optimization: USPS. USPS received the Best Route Optimization award for leading one of the largest transportation network transformations in the world. By rebuilding its logistics network using advanced optimisation and real-time operational data, the organisation reduced transportation spend by $1.7bn and cut unplanned trips by 40%, while supporting record freight volumes and maintaining service performance. Rising Star in Mobility Operations: DPD UK. DPD UK received the Rising Star in Mobility Operations award for establishing a dedicated Utilization Team for its vans and LCVs. The initiative increased peak fleet utilisation from 76% to 84%, enabled the decommissioning of 908 vehicles and contributed to the first fleet procurement freeze in decades. Best Fleet Operations: Zipcar. Zipcar received the Best Fleet Operations award for enhancing vehicle availability and operational efficiency across its North American car-sharing network through automation and process optimisation. By streamlining vehicle cleaning workflows and reducing manual intervention, Zipcar improved fleet readiness, increased vehicle availability for members and enabled field teams to focus more time on delivering a high-quality member experience. Fleet Optimization Pioneers: dollaride. Dollaride received the Fleet Optimization Pioneers award for developing an EV-as-a-Service model that simplifies fleet electrification for community transit operators. By combining vehicles, charging infrastructure, financing and parking into a single offering, the model creates a practical pathway to EV adoption while reducing operating costs and emissions. AI-Powered Operations: karmo. Karmo received the AI-Powered Operations award for making AI a practical optimisation layer across the business, helping teams make smarter decisions in procurement, fleet planning and customer operations. Karmo is using AI to track market trends, support vehicle lifecycle decisions and be proactive about customer needs, allowing the company to more than double its fleet size while increasing utilisation from 89% to 91%. The Impact Award: kari ride hailing. Kari received The Impact Award for building one of the industry's most efficient operating models. The organisation manages more than 250,000 rides annually with no dispatchers and a part-time operations team of just two people, using automation and intelligent workflows to deliver reliable service at scale. Autofleet said the submissions showed that the most successful operators are using optimisation as a strategic lever for business growth. This strategic approach manifests through advancements in AI, intelligent automation, network refinement, predictive modelling and scalable operations, highlighting the growing role of optimisation in driving business performance. "What made these winners stand out wasn't just the results they achieved, but the creativity and operational discipline behind them," said Sima Megrel Shubzak, VP marketing at Autofleet. "Every fleet or mobility operator faces the same challenge: how to create reliability in an environment filled with constant change. The winners demonstrate what is possible when operational excellence becomes a strategic advantage."

Element Fleet's Autofleet platform partners with inDrive to enhance mobility solutions. Element Fleet Management Corp announced that its advanced fleet optimization platform, Autofleet, has partnered with inDrive, the global ride-sharing platform operating in 48 countries, to bring intelligent fleet management to inDrive's peer-to-peer ridesharing model. This collaboration equips inDrive's fleet partners with Autofleet's platform to enable streamlined driver and asset control, real-time data integration, and actionable operational insights for more efficient, scalable, and reliable fleet operations."Fleets are becoming a strategic imperative for ride-hailing companies, and we are excited to partner with inDrive to enable new levels of performance, transparency, and growth," says Kobi Eisenberg, President of Element Mobility and Autofleet. "As ride-hail and mobility models evolve, success will depend on operational fleet excellence. This partnership brings the power of intelligent fleet management to inDrive's unique mobility model." Through Autofleet's Integration Hub, inDrive will be able to seamlessly synchronize data on rides, vehicles, and drivers within its systems. "Autofleet brings the fleet management foundation our partners need to operate at scale," said Arsen Tomsky, founder and CEO of inDrive. "This partnership is about more than connecting drivers and riders. It's about optimizing the way transportation is managed behind the scenes to deliver better, more reliable service for everyone who uses inDrive."