The heavy vehicle sector is entering a period of profound regulatory change. From mid-2026, the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) will be progressively replaced by the new Heavy Vehicle Accreditation (HVA) scheme, as part of the implementation of the 2025 Heavy Vehicle National Law Amendment Bill. For Fleet Managers, transport operators, and the fleet management companies serving them, this isn’t an abstract policy update. It is a live compliance obligation with real deadlines, transition timelines, and accreditation consequences for operations that depend on Higher Mass Limits, Performance-Based Standards approvals, and related access rights.
This is exactly the environment into which FleetGuru.ai is stepping with intent.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Mills as General Manager, Heavy Vehicle Innovation & Advocacy, a senior, intentionally designed leadership role that will shape the company’s mission and product roadmap for years to come.
Why This Role, Why Now
The timing is not coincidental. The NHVAS-to-HVA transition represents the kind of compliance inflection point that separates fleet operators who are ahead of the curve from those scrambling to catch up. The NHVR will manage the transition through a phased approach of up to three years, subject to Ministerial approval expected mid-2026, allowing operators time to move from NHVAS to the new HVA scheme, but operators can only be accredited in one scheme at a time. For fleet management companies and third-party service providers managing complex, multi-operator portfolios, that distinction matters enormously.
But the HVA transition is only part of the story. Our own member data tells us the rest. Across 1,729 workshop members surveyed over four consecutive cycles, the proportion managing Truck, Plant & Equipment assets through the FleetGuru portal has grown from 17% to 20% in a single year, and that cohort is clearly telling us this is not a signal to slow down in heavy vehicles. It is a signal to move faster and more deliberately.
The data and intelligence fleet managers need to navigate this transition, but for too many operators, it remains fragmented, disconnected from workflow, or buried in systems that weren’t designed with compliance at their core. FleetGuru’s role is to close that gap. Michael Mills’ role is to ensure we do it in a way that reflects how the industry actually operates.
“The HVA transition isn’t a footnote; it’s a fundamental shift in how accreditation works in this country, and it’s happening now. We can see that the industry needs a thoughtful, human-centred solution, and only someone who has worked within complex compliance frameworks and understands what’s at stake operationally can grasp the problem and how to approach it. Michael is that person. His appointment is one of the most important things we’ve done as a company.”
Eden Shirley, MD, FleetGuru.
Crucial Alert: Heads up! These new standards kick in if your fleet has even one vehicle over 4.5 tonnes (including towed vehicles). Passenger-dominant fleets often miss this benchmark, so if you have a small smattering of heavy vehicles, you need to be across these legislative changes.
Who is Michael Mills?
In 2025, Michael was awarded AfMA Fleet Manager of the Year, a recognition that speaks to the depth and breadth of a career spent not managing fleets in theory, but running them. His experience spans the full weight of Australia’s regulatory environment: Chain of Responsibility obligations, NHVR compliance frameworks, fatigue management regimes, roadworthiness standards, and PBS vehicle requirements. These aren’t credentials he holds on paper. They are frameworks he has lived inside, managed to, and been held accountable for.
That combination, elite operational credibility combined with the ability to engage at the association, regulator, and executive level, is rare. It is also precisely what this role demands.
“I’m joining FleetGuru because the opportunity to shape what comes next in the heavy vehicle sector, with a leadership team that is genuinely values-driven and a clear sense of purpose behind what they’re building, is rare. This role lets me contribute in a way that is both strategic and hands-on, and that’s exactly where I do my best work. I’m here to help drive real momentum, for the business and for the industry.”
Michael Mills, General Manager, Heavy Vehicle Innovation & Advocacy, FleetGuru.
The Scope of the Role
Michael’s appointment is not a product advisory position or a sales enablement function. It is a senior, externally-facing executive role that sits at the intersection of platform strategy, industry advocacy, and commercial development. He will partner directly with our product and technology leadership to shape the FleetGuru roadmap for heavy vehicles, translating compliance realities like the NHVAS-to-HVA transition into platform capabilities that fleet operators can actually use.
Critically, that roadmap work starts with a clear brief from our own members. Our survey data shows TPE users are asking for more job types and repair codes for heavy vehicles (16% of TPE respondents), faster approvals and authorisations (15%), a dedicated portal section for plant and equipment (10%), and service intervals measured in hours rather than kilometres (3%). These are not abstract wish-list items. They are the gap between a platform built primarily for passenger fleet management and one that genuinely serves the heavy vehicle segment. Closing that gap purposefully, with Michael’s operational expertise shaping the approach, is a core part of his mandate.
He will represent FleetGuru at the forums that matter, AfMA, IPWEA, ATA, SCLAA, NHVR industry consultations, and he will engage with regulators and government bodies to ensure technology-led compliance solutions have a voice in policy discussions.
Equally important, he will lead structured engagement with the fleet management companies, transport operators, and owner-operators who need to understand what the HVA transition means for their accreditation, their operations, and their technology stack.
For FMCs managing clients across multiple accreditation modules and expiry dates, this creates a coordination and reporting challenge that is precisely where intelligent platform support becomes critical.
What This Means for the Industry
FleetGuru already serves some of Australia’s largest fleet operators as the intelligence layer above their assets, processing repair authorisations, surfacing maintenance insights, and enabling faster, better-informed decisions. The platform’s core value is not in dispute: 80% of surveyed workshop members name FleetGuru as their preferred fleet portal and that preference has held firm even as the network has scaled fourfold. The baseline is strong. The heavy vehicle opportunity is real and growing.
Michael’s appointment accelerates our position in the heavy vehicle segment and signals our commitment to being the platform of choice for FMCs and TPE service providers managing fleets where compliance is not optional.
For fleet operators navigating the HVA transition, for FMCs building out their heavy vehicle service proposition, and for anyone in the industry looking for a technology partner that understands the compliance environment from the ground up, FleetGuru and Michael Mills are the conversation worth having.
He will be representing FleetGuru at the 2026 AfMA Summit. If you’re attending, connect with him. If you’re not, follow him on LinkedIn. The regulatory clock is already running, and the intelligence layer that helps you stay ahead of it is ready.
