THE EFFICIENCY OF CARS. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN LAND TRANSPORT. PROCEEDINGS OF A SEMINAR ORGANISED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR ENERGY, LUXEMBOURG, MAY 16-18, 1988

This article describes the European initiatives in vehicle design and in transportation which increase energy conservation. Special attention is given to vehicle design, especially the development of the car body, engine and transmission. Developments in car body design are mainly concentrated on decreasing drag resistance. A software package is being developed which predicts air flow around the car. Developments in engine and transmission systems include: new models of 3 dimensional cold flow in internal combustion engines; 3 dimensional models of fuel spray; and homogeneous combustion and knock in spark ignited engines. Improvements in traffic and transportation systems include methods for improving traffic flow such as: (a) vehicle route guidance systems; (b) optopilot, a system whereby cameras and special sensors are used to provide an intelligent 'copilot' system for driving the car, which prevents the driver from making errors such as overtaking when it is dangerous to do so; (c) conveypilot, which is a system which sets the speed and distances between electronically driven vehicles, thus conveying them in regular convoys. Increasing transport of passenger cars by rail is another option considered. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 824263.