Information technology is transforming cars faster than anyone
expected, and it can do more than let drivers update their
statuses on Facebook. It could also save them a lot of fuel.
These days, the design and control of more fuel-efficient
engines and hybrid vehicles depends on computers. Yet the
potential of IT to save fuel goes beyond improving a car's fuel
economy rating. It could save fuel by gradually reducing—and
before too long eliminating—the need for drivers. Drivers cause
all sorts of problems. They hit the brakes too much and
accelerate too quickly. That can waste a third of the gas on a
typical drive. Bad driving also creates traffic jams. In the
U.S., drivers waste two billion gallons of fuel each year while
stuck in traffic, according to a study by the Texas
Transportation Institute. Just think of the gas burned in that
2010 Chinese traffic jam that lasted almost two weeks. Until
recently, the idea of taking drivers out of the loop has always
seemed a distant possibility. Engineers in Detroit i