In one of the signs of the diminishing chauffeur class, Bentley today announced a concierge fuel trial with technology start-up Filld, a mobile app-based fuel-delivery service. This new collaboration is part of what’s said to be the luxury British brand’s on-going Connected Car strategy.
The app-based ‘Filld for Bentley’ service will initially be available to customers in California, “affording owners the ultimate time-saving luxury of never having to search for or stop at a fuel station again.”
Owners open a Filld for Bentley app, choose a delivery time, and their fuel will be delivered wherever and whenever they require. This first-ever Connected Car integration for Bentley means that customers don’t need to unlock the fuel cap themselves, or identify the car’s exact location as this is done for them securely through the Filld for Bentley service. Bentley predicts additional future benefits growing form Concierge fuel, including predictive ordering where the car places an order for itself based on fuel level, location and customer preferences.
The Electronics Research Laboratory, Volkswagen Group of America and FÄLTCOM developed a special Application Programming Interface to collect vehicle data and provide an interface to Filld’s service. Volkswagen Group owns Bentley.
Bentley’s Director of Product and Marketing, Christophe Georges, said: “We are continuously investigating ways in which to offer our customers tailored, convenient, smart services that afford them the greatest luxury of all: more time”
About Filld
Filld (www.filld.com) is an app-based service that delivers gas to a car, day or night, at work or at home. You simply tap a button — tell the car’s location, select a time — and open your filler door before a driver comes to fill the car. To keep costs low, Filld price-matches to the lowest of the gas stations nearby, adds a small delivery fee, typically $3. The service is currently available from San Francisco through San Jose.
