Some Aussie engineers have found that setting up a network of sensors in the urban driving environment and rigging cars to respond to traffic flows by optimizing speeds will cause an ordinary pure-internal-combustion vehicle to beat the fuel economy of an "unintelligent" gasoline-electric hybrid car over the same course. The drawback? Big Brother drives your car for you! We wonder what would happen with a mix of intelligent and unintelligent cars on the same streets, not to mention how much road rage would be triggered when Big Brother says your car will catch all the green lights at an optimum velocity of 3.7 miles per hour.
'Intelligent' cars as fuel-efficient as hybrids [physorg.com]
Related:
Volkswagen Revives 200-mpg Car Project [internal]