How to stop phantom traffic (and save fuel) in seven easy steps!

Traffic waves occur when there are too many cars on the road. Now that autonomous vehicles are just over the horizon for consumers, a number of research activities have focused on the influence of automated vehicles on traffic flow.

A team funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) demonstrated that -- if controlled effectively – driverless cars are able to reduce stop-and-go waves that can arise in normal traffic patterns.

The experiments conducted on a circular track with more than 20 vehicles show that traffic waves emerge consistently, and that they can be reduced by controlling the speed of a single vehicle in the flow.

The team compared metrics for velocity, braking events, and fuel economy across experiments. These findings suggest a new way to look at traffic management: traffic flow control will be possible via a few self-driving cars (less than five percent) long before a majority of vehicles have autonomous capabilities.

For more information on this research see the full article:

[hesingshesobs]

I think anyone who really understands how bad human drivers can be already suspected such a result. Thanks for the confirmation.

[ScottyRoth]

I never realized how traffic jams happen like that. I always figured something was stopped in the middle of the road causing the jam. What seems to happen though is when your lead car surpass a certain critical speed limit it has to brake or end up hitting the tail car. This braking causes a domino effect that reverberates back down the chain.

[timothybucky]

truck drafting can cut aero by 50% and fuel use by 10% displacing rail is possible.