ESTERO, Fla. -

Hertz is looking to make a safe bet on autonomous vehicles in Sin City.

Coming on the heels of the rental car company hiring a new chief information officer, Hertz and its fleet management subsidiary, Donlen, on Tuesday announced a new strategic partnership with Aptiv, a global technology company enabling the future of mobility.

Hertz said it will assist with the operations and management of Aptiv's Las Vegas autonomous vehicles (AVs). The company highlighted Aptiv’s technology powers what are deemed to be safe and reliable AVs in cities worldwide with Las Vegas serving as the initial North American commercial deployment market.

The two companies will execute a phased approach to develop standard operating procedures for mobility-related AV fleets. The initial program, scheduled to launch this fall, will further enhance and guide the implementation of similar programs in future markets.

“Our partnership with Hertz will allow us to operate and maintain autonomous fleets at scale — a critical element of the offering that our on-demand mobility customers will require,” said Glen De Vos, Aptiv’s chief technology officer and president of its mobility and services group.

“This relationship is an important step in the broader journey for Aptiv, within the self-driving technology space,” De Vos continued.

Michael Fisher, senior vice president and chief digitization officer of Hertz, emphasized that the company is committed to emerging mobility and actively supporting fleet management partnerships.

“Hertz continues to innovate and execute winning strategies in the evolving mobility landscape. We’re pleased to announce this partnership with Aptiv, a leader in the development of autonomous driving technology,” Fisher continued.

“This allows us to build on our expanding platform for managing AVs of the future while we leverage our expansive expertise and network managing our existing car rental and commercial fleets of more than 1 million vehicles,” he went on to say.