BBC 英语学习 无人驾驶汽车

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BBC, learning English. Hello, and welcome to Six Minute English.

I'm Alice, and I'm Neil. What do you think about autonomous cars?

Alice Hmm. An autonomous or independent and driverless

car is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input.

I think they're a

great idea. And navigate means to find the way to get to a place.

I'm not sure I would trust a computer to drive me.

It might go wrong and crash into a wall, maybe.

But actually, most car accidents involve an element of human error, and human error means the mistakes we make because we're human, e.g.

people who are behind the wheel while tired or drunk or distracted behind the wheel, in other words, in control of a car.

Yes, I often see people talking on their mobile phones or texting instead of looking at the road.

They are being irresponsible. Drivers. Neil driving is the subject of today's show.

I have a question for you.

On average, how many people around the world die each day from road accidents?

Is it A 300? B 3000 or C 30000?

And I'm going to say B 3000?

Well, we'll see if you're right or not later on in the show.

Are you a petrol Headneal No, I'm not a petrol head, which is someone who loves cars and driving.

But I know Eddy Jordan, a racing team owner, is and what does he love about driving?

He'll answer this question himself. Let's listen.

When I get in a car, I feel a different person.

I feel that I'm now in control.

I can turn on the music, or I can turn it off.

I can do all sorts of different things that I feel good about.

When I was flat out with the Jordan team, I did have a driver, and that was one to be able to make calls and to be able to receive calls and to be able to work in the car, not because I didn't want to drive, and I always felt cheated that there was a driver there taking the pleasure that I should be having.

So when I get in a car, it has to be a fun experience.

Eddy Jordan there and doing something flat out means that maximum capacity.

Do you feel like a different person when you're driving?

Alice No. And unlike Eddy Jordan, I'd love to have a driver, or a driverless car, for that matter.

It gives you time to do other things, like getting some work done.

I certainly wouldn't feel cheated of the pleasure of driving.

I agree with Eddy Jordan. I would feel a bit cheated.

And I have to admit, I'm a bit of a backseat driver.

I sit in the passenger seat and give the driver unwanted advice.

Well, just think Neal. In a driverless car, you wouldn't need to give the computer advice, because it would be making the right decisions to get you to your destination safely.

But can you overweide the computer?

You know, if you felt that it was making bad decisions?

Override in this context, means to stop an automatic action by taking control yourself.

Airline pilots do that, don't they?

They fly on auto pilot for most of the journey, but override it in order to take control with the plane for takeoff and landing.

I would feel happier if I could take back control of an automated car if I wanted to.

Well, let's listen now to Brian Fung, a technology reporter, whos experienced what it is to be in a driverless car that has no steering wheels, no break pedals, no emergency break, no gear shifter.

Google is developing a car in which everything will be self contained.

Well, the biggest thing you notice right off the bat is that the car accelerates a little bit more aggressively than a regular car might, and it breaks a little bit more aggressively than a regular car might, but other than that, it takes about 10 s for you to get pretty comfortable.

And the car knew how to stop for red lights.

It knew how to run through yellow lights.

It could detect pedestrians and navigate its way around parked cars.

All in all, it felt very similar to regular car driving experience.

And I think that's one of the most surprising and exciting things about it, is just how mundane it was.

Brian Fang says he noticed right off the bat that the Google Car accelerated and break more aggressively than a regular car, and right off the bat means immediately.

But he also says it took him only 10 s to get used to it and feel comfortable as the car navigated appropriately and responded to different traffic situations, including pedestrians and parked cars.

Well, that all sounds very nice, but I think I'd still prefer to be in the driving seat, and that means in control of a situation.

You can take the driverless car and do your work alice.

Well, the future is likely to be all about automated transport, planes, trains, buses and cars, and you simply won't have a choice, neil.

Maybe you'll be allowed to hire a car.

You can drive yourself, just for fun.

Maybe. But I like the idea of a future with safe, driverless roads.

I still need some convincing. And that brings us

back to today's quiz question. Can you tell us the answer now, please?

Alice, of course I can. I asked, on average, around how many people around the world die each day from road accidents?

Is it A 300, B 3000 or C 30000?

And I said 3000?

And unfortunately, neal that's right. Nearly million people die in road crashes each year, on

average, 3287 deaths a day. That's according to annual global road crash statistics.

Now, here are the words we learn today Autonomous Navigate human error.

Behind the wheel petrol head, flat out backseat driver override, right off the bat in the driving seat.

And that's the end of today.

Six minute English don't forget to join us again soon.

Good Bye. Bye.

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