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121 comments on Thursday Open Thread: The "What Have You Done with The Press Release?" Edition

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Engineer-Poet on April 27, 2006 - 5:29pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
As long as you're at it, standard cruise control (with requirements for accuracy) would save a lot of fuel too.  And if someone could come up with an inexpensive way of making an adaptive cruise control which would let cars cruise in "trains" perhaps ten feet apart, the cut in fuel consumption from the reduced drag would help even more.
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Twilight on April 27, 2006 - 8:25pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Actually, while I like a cruise control that holds a very constant speed, I believe it is more economical to let it droop on the uphill and speed up downhill.
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Engineer-Poet on April 28, 2006 - 2:47am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Perhaps (for gas cars), but if it's going to be usable in traffic then you have the difficulty of specifying a speed vs. grade curve as part of the standard (so that vehicles can remain in cruise going up and down hills).  Much easier just to peg a speed and hold it.

I get much better economy in the diesel when I hold constant speed up hills, accelerate over the crest and then drop to neutral to coast down.  It would be even more different in a hybrid.  Any specification should probably be written with hybrids or EV's in mind, as everything else is going to be obsolete in a decade or so but we'll be stuck with the legacy standard.

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PhilRelig on April 28, 2006 - 6:53am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The standard-equipment cruise control is an excellent idea.  Cruise control makes it a lot easier for an inveterate lead-foot such as myself to maintain the speed limit.  

(And like I said on another thread, here's an endorsement for the 55 mph speed limit from someone who by nature much prefers the speedlimitless conditions of the German Autobahn.  Chafing as I always have under speed limits, I really never thought that day would come!)

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121 comments on Thursday Open Thread: The "What Have You Done with The Press Release?" Edition

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