Published April 26, 2012 Anyone who’s driven on a busy highway
can attest that vehicles moving erratically and braking
needlessly breaks up the smooth flow of traffic and leads to
congestion. Honda has also observed this phenomenon and claims
to have pioneered a technology based on this principle that,
rather than just helping to avoid traffic jams, aims to prevent
them from occurring entirely. The Japanese automaker claims that
its new technology can detect the potential for a traffic jam
and determine whether the driving pattern of a vehicle is likely
to create one. Working with researchers from the University of
Tokyo, Honda conducted experimental testing of a system
utilizing the technology on a primary vehicle and with several
secondary vehicles trailing behind it. The test results
demonstrated that the system helped increase the average speed
of the primary vehicle by approximately 23 percent and improved
fuel efficiency of the secondary trailing vehicles by
approximately 8 percent. Rather than providin