Tailgatinges lethal but can cut your fuel bill
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Truck drivers have long understood that tailgating can save fuel, even though it is dangerous. Now researchers in California have shown that the saving can be as much as 12% for cars travelling two metres apart at 60mph, in computer-controlled "platoons'".
The US government-backed researchers. working on a dry lake bed and specially constructed motorway lanes, found that savings also increased with the number of vehicles in the group.
In groups of more than two cars it was also found that trailing cars had a maximum benefit, irrespective of how close they travelled, while interior and leading cars showed a con
tinning improvement in fuel consumption. This moans a vehicle at the front of a group could eventually *coy better savings than one at the back.
The project, by California's Department of Transportation and the University of California, also aims to cut back on the number of accidents on busy roads by computer controlling vehicles and increasing traffic flow, which will also reduce fuel consumption and pollution.
• Mercedes-Benz is also busy researching "autonomous control" for trucks (CM1-7 July 1999). It predicts that this technology could hit the road within three years.