auto truck following cruise control idea

[lesdit]

In the spirit of ways to keep in lean burn, and general ways to get more mpg, I thought of this while driving home today:
Hyper milers know that following a semi saves a *bunch* of fuel. I've tried it myself, and was amazed at getting
something like 20 mpg more while traveling at 60 - 70 mph ! It's a pain to keep the distance, however.
How about this: A cruise control that measures the distance to the truck in front of you, and it attempts to maintain
a set distance for you. You get behind the semi, find your comfortable distance, and hit a button. It could either lock on
totally and let you lift your foot off, or merely cause the car to 'gravitate strongly' to said distance but like a weak magnet
lets go if you let off the gas.
Your foot could perhaps hover over the brake pedal, ready for action if things get too close because of an error.
I have no idea if this would be legal, but it could be seen as a way to keep a safe distance.
Other features would also include old fashioned cruise control, and maybe a 'lean burn seeking' cruise control that would try to keep the
O2 at the lean burn levels.

Distance might be calculated with an IR triangulation system ( like some camera focus systems ) or maybe a fancy TOF ( time of flight )
system that measures distance via a pulse of light travel time. Ultrasonic would not work due to noise, I would guess.

Am I nuts

[b1shmu63]

Les, your idea would certainly save gas and should not be that difficult if you already have cruise control. The cruise control could slowly creep up or down based on a signal from a laser range finder or the like. For it to work you would have to be quite close so you wouldn't loose sync on corners. Asside from any safety and discomfort issues there is one big issue that many are not aware of. The exhaust from a big rig is full of really nasty carcinogens, poly chlorinated byphenols (PCBs) and dioxins which are amoung the most poisonous chemicals known. These chemicals are stored inside the cells of your body and have a half life of approximately 7 years. There is no known antidote. Sooner or later they will give you cancer unless you die of other causes first. They are harmfull at any level. I consider myself frugal ( others may call it something else ) but knowing this I avoid the back of any Diesel.

[boogetyboogety]

BMW and Mercedes (at least) already use adaptive cruise controls, it's only a matter of time before the tech filters down to the DIY consumer level. Some systems, as in the Mercedes, will bring the car to a full stop and restart the vehicle motion when the obstacle ahead moves on (as in a stoplight situation)...

Indeed, a quicky Google search brought this:

http://www.trw.com/productsandtechnolog ... .html#this

I bet it's coming! It'd be great to have it...

[japanev1]

Honda has a really cool system called ADAS (Advanced Driving Assist System) that does this, but they only offer the full suite of its features in Japan and Europe. ADAS involves LKAS (Lane Keeping Assist System-uses cameras and steering torque to keep vehicle within current lane of travel), ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control-radar based automatic cruise control), and CMBS (Collision Mitigation Braking System-uses all vehicle safety systems including ACC and LKAS (if equipped) to avoid accidents via VSC/ABS as well as preparing vehicle and occupants for crashes that cannot be avoided through seat position and seat belt tension among other things). They currently only offer ADAS as an $3800 option on the Acura RL in America, but they remove the LKAS probably due to potential liability issues of a car basically driving itself. The system is expensive, but I find it to be superior (due to the LKAS) than current Infiniti, BMW, and Lexus systems. Infiniti's latest lane departure system supposedly offers an LKAS type option, but I have yet to experience it. With the Insight, if it were to offer a system like this in Japan they probably wouldn't offer it here just like they did with the satellite navigation system option (and its larger 2-din size audio slot). As far as after-market systems like ADAS I would imagine they are still a ways off due to their complicated technical relationship with the vehicles electronic systems such as ABS, VSC, EPS, SRS, EBD, etc., but I imagine eventually they will exist as the feature becomes popular and migrates to less expensive vehicles.

[james]

"...knowing this I avoid the back of any Diesel."

But look at where the exhaust is located on a semi - 60-80 feet ahead of the rear end, and 10 feet above. You're not likely to be breathing more diesel fumes when drafting than in average traffic.

[lesdit]

A $3800 option is nice, but my whole car cost less than double that amount !

As a DIY'er, I'm intrigued at how to get something workable on my Insight. I think the cost of a kit shout be
close to $1000.
Laser distance measuring just got a whole lot cheaper, thanks to Stanley's $99 laser distance meter. It is not ultrasonic
and reads to 100 ft. I didn't see any hacks to it to get the reading outside of it yet.

I have a feeling that an OEM version of adaptive cruise control would not let you get close enough to help gas mileage
much because I think it's called tailgating by the highway patrol .
When I have followed a semi, I turned down the radio and listen to the wind noise. Wind noise gets more gusty sounding as
you get in the zone, and more quiet. Staying just outside the tailgate distance probably helps as well, but I think there is a pretty
sharp cutoff on that 'efficiency zone', as it were.

[gpsman1]

Forget the fumes... what about broken windshields?

Where do you people drive that you have such clean roads?

Everywhere I drive there is dirt, sand, gravel, stones, cement chips, you name it a few places every mile!

[lesdit]

LA freeways are so much traveled that the rocks get pulverized.
Also, we don't have snow and little rain, so I don't see too many chunks flying.... knock on wood ....
-Les

[Waynetc]

How about a big electromagnetic front bumper insert. The only thing on the road that it would not want to bring the car to is another Insight and the Lotus Elise.

Talk about pulse and glide

It's probably better than my acme auto-harpoon thought...