(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Japanese physicists set up an experiment in 2008 to study traffic. Even with every driver trying to drive a consistent speed, "jamitons" occurred - waves of slowing traffic, though there is no obstacle. Watch the pattern:
Recently researchers re-created the experiment . . but with one difference. An autonomous car was included. After jamitons started forming, the self-driving feature was activated on the one autonomous car, and it changed the pattern.
"What this means in reality is that the presence of just one autonomous car can reduce congestion for all drivers . . "
Practical improvements? According to researchers' calculations, reducing excessive braking will result in a 40% reduction in fuel consumption, and the throughput of the road goes up by about 14%.
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