Hertz rolling out AI rental car inspections: Consumer protection or a new way to charge for damage?

Artificial intelligence is changing many aspects of travel, and now it's reshaping the rental car experience.

Hertz is working with a company called UVeye to inspect rental cars before and after rentals with an artificial intelligence assist. "By transforming how vehicles are assessed and maintained, Hertz is building a more transparent, reliable, and tech-forward future for car rentals—starting with the basics," the companies said in a statement shared with TPG.

The new AI-aided inspections are already underway at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).

The rental cars pass through an AI-enabled structure that uses cameras and machine-learning algorithms to inspect the vehicle's body, glass, tires and undercarriage.

You simply drive the car through the tunnel to get a full scan when you drop it off.

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"UVeye's tire treadwear system captures high-resolution images that are instantly analyzed to determine whether a tire needs replacement, reducing the need for manual checks and ensuring timely, proactive service," the companies said.

Customers will receive a detailed report on their car's condition when they pick it up and when they drop it off, so there should be more transparency in the process.

Hopefully, this means drivers will no longer have to take videos and photos of their rental car during pickup — something I recently had to do when I rented a car from Hertz in Kona, Hawaii.

Of course, this also raises concerns that consumers could end up getting charged for more potential damages that a cursory glance from a rental car company employee may have overlooked in the past. We'll have to wait to see if that ends up being the case. So far, there have not been a lot of reports of issues like that.

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Hertz and UVeye are now rolling out installations across major U.S. airport locations, with full deployment expected by the end of the year.

"With millions of customers and over 100 years of service around the world, we're continually focused on transforming every aspect of our company and that includes how we maintain our vehicles," Mike Moore, executive vice president of technical operations at Hertz, said.

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