Which costs more, Fuel or Freedom?

At the beginning of the summer, as gas prices were still going up, my family moved to a new house within walking and biking distance of a number of conveniences, including public transportation. Up until this point, I had been celebrating all of the great technological wonders that were going to be making life on the road so much better for us. I realized that I may be honking up the wrong sway bar and that our most recent gas crisis may end up hindering the introduction of many of these devices, just because so many people (myself included) were scrutinizing their time at the fuel pump so much more. What use would you have for an in-car concierge if you weren't driving more than 20 miles a week?

I rejoined the local Vanpool, which I had left a couple of years before, and was enjoying using it for about 2 months. I felt both liberated and responsible. Liberated from the gas pump, I had started the Vanpool with 5/8ths of a tank, and I didn't have to fill up for another three and a half weeks. For once I felt like a responsible citizen as well, in that I was doing my part in reacting to the "gas crisis" with a level, and conserving mindset.

A short time ago, somebody at work finally realized we were hitting a major time crunch, and we had mandatory overtime. This rather outwieghed the need to conserve gas, so I have begun driving myself to work once again. In my musings on the road, I became aware of an application for the same navigation devices I had thought might be doomed to a shallow market.

Just the same as UPS has optimized their own routing to save gas, everyday automobile drivers could use the same techiques with the help of navigation devices -connected to their engine computer- to more accurately assess their mileage capability with regards to current traffic conditions and plan their route accordingly. Like many other commuters, my driving time and gas mileage can vary greatly depending on the time of day I am driving. When driving at the most congested times, it is often faster to take an alternate route, but is it more efficient? Do you really save gas?

Most drivers have absolutely no idea, but I think that more of them would like to use that knowledge to their advantage. I'm not aware of any device that is capable of both routing and measuring fuel consumption, so I'm claiming the idea here for my own. And don't get me wrong, this isn't just for vehicles using gasoline propulsion. Unless you can power your vehicle 200 miles down the road for a few dollars, you can benefit. I hope you'll buy my invention!! :)

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