Fuel Efficiency of Chaining Cars Together / Towing?

Question

My colleagues and I are looking for solutions to the unpopularity of public transportation, unoptimized traffic flow, and excessive fuel consumption. We drew up several models of public transportation that allow drivers to stay in there cars. One suggestion was to make "automation highways", only eligible to drivers with cars having specific automation computers and gps systems, whereon these highways the car takes over the driving 100%, & then tailgates the car in front of it right up til their bumpers are touching (and still driving), at which point it magnetizes your bumper, and the cars begin to act as one car. Thus several cars can drive (at high speeds) acting as one unit with several axels and several engines. (bumpers are demagnitized and cars exit the 'train' as needed to get each car to its prescribed exit (gps) ) The question is whether magnetizing two cars together by their front and rear bumpers, is there any way to use less combined gasoline? and how much less (%) ?

Passing a small electrical current through your bumper magnetizes it; stopping that flow (or reversing it) demagnetizes it.

If a car needs to exit it demagnetizes its bumper & 'tells' the car behind it to do likewise.

Speeds are reduced appropriately to give the liberated car some room to switch lanes & exit the highway.

Answer 1

Now if the second car decides to exit the train because his Aunt Mabel's house is at the next exit, how does he disconnect? He is being held by the magnetic field of the third car. If he can't get that car to let go he is going to take the entire train following him right over to Aunt Mabel's place. Now if he can make the third car let go how is that third car going to hook up to the first car which has ended up way ahead of it?

It sounds like there are a few details besides efficiency that need to be worked out.

Answer 2

What you and your colleagues describe doing is a NASCAR textbook definition of "drafting" . Coeffeciant drag is reduced as you describe and enables cars that are "governed or restricted" to the same speed to as a group pass other cars. The problem with drafting at high rates of speed bumper to bumper is that air flow is restricted to the radiators of the cars drafting and, thus,creating an overheating problem if the cars rear of the leader can't swing out right or left to allow airflow to the radiator. Now these race cars are set up to take air flow into the radiator at tailgating at high rates of speed and they still overheat . So with today's car design and the airdam under the radiator air flow is greatly reduced and if the cars are locked bumper to bumper then "then of cars would overheat and the train would soon become disabled due to overheated radiators / engines(except for the lead car)Your theory of better gas mi at higher speeds is a proven fact . But the overheating problem needs to be addressed first and resolved

Answer 3

yes, 33% less