Cruise Control: Convenience vs. Real Fuel Efficiency

For decades, cruise control has been hailed as a tool for both convenience and fuel efficiency. The common logic is simple: maintaining a perfectly constant speed avoids the wasteful acceleration and deceleration of a human driver, leading to significant savings at the pump. While this holds true under specific conditions, the belief that cruise control is always an economical choice is a dangerous oversimplification. In reality, its effectiveness is entirely dependent on context, and misapplication can actually increase fuel consumption.