Drive Time

Why it matters: Hertz is one of the largest employers in Southwest Florida, with around 600 employees in its Estero global headquarters.

The past three years have been tough ones for Hertz, with accounting issues that dogged the company; leadership changes at top levels; and a steady drop in earnings and share price.

But now the Estero-based car rental company, which relocated its headquarters from New Jersey to Lee County in 2013, faces a pair of external challenges that could last for years. One comes from ride-sharing pioneers Uber and Lyft, which dented the entire car rental industry with its transportation technology disruption. The other threat comes from autonomous vehicles, where tech giants Google and Apple, among other companies, plan to bring self-driving cars to the mass market.