By driving smarter, autonomous cars have the potential to move people around and between cities with far greater efficiency. Estimates of their energy dividends, however, have largely ignored autonomous driving’s energy inputs, such as the electricity consumed by brawny on-board computers.
First-of-a-kind modeling published today by University of Michigan and Ford Motor researchers shows that autonomy’s energy pricetag is substantial — high enough to turn some autonomous cars into net energy losers.
