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IN PRINT — Tailgate Party: Platooning questions involve more than tech preview image IN PRINT -- Tailgate Party: Platooning questions involve more than tech article image

IN PRINT — Tailgate Party: Platooning questions involve more than tech

Nike wants a runner to complete a marathon in under two hours, but the target will involve more than the company's swoosh-marked shoes. Other marathoners will take turns running in the controlled race, helping to optimize the aerodynamic conditions that can be leveraged by the record hopeful who will tuck in behind them. It's not the only sport to leverage the pulling forces of "drafting". The concept has been used everywhere from cycling's Tour de France to the ovals of NASCAR. With the help of emerging technology such as adaptive cruise control and collision mitigation systems, trucking could be on the cusp of realizing the same techniques - using automatically set following distances in a process known as platooning.