Reading these takes me back to the times I had to drive a (stick shift) car where the clutch failed (or I just wanted to practice.) With a cold car, get into neutral to get the engine warmed up. Kill the engine and push into 1st. Start the engine, not much gas but enough to keep moving. Double clutch or adjust the gas with synchromesh to move up through the gears. At a stop light or stop sign, drop out to neutral (left foot on the brake) and kill the engine, pushing into gear for starting as it dies. Start the car in gear with almost no gas as it is hot and continue merrily shifting.
If a robot is managing this I would expect that restarting a hot engine without pumping the gas pedal as human drivers often do, would save more than a couple of percent gas as well as idling pollution.
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