Supplementary Reading 

1. Culture Notes

Futurama

The most memorable exhibit at the 1939 —1940 New York World's Fair was the General Motors Pavilion, and the most memorable feature in the General Motors Pavilion was a ride called the Futurama. People stood in line for hours to ride it and experience the exciting possibilities of life in the distant future —the year 1960.

The Futurama ride carried fair visitors past tiny, realistic landscapes while a narrator described the world of tomorrow. The effect was like catching a glimpse of the future from the window of an airplane. The focus was on what roadways and transportation might look like in 20 years.

Visitors were told about certain features these future cars might have — such as radio controls that help them maintain proper distance from each other. GM's ride presented a utopia forged by urban planning. Sophisticated highways ran through rural farmland and eventually moved into carefully ordered futuristic cities. There wasn't an interstate freeway system in 1939. Not many people owned a car. They staggered out of the fair like a cargo cult and built an imperfect version of this incredible vision. The audience had never even considered a future like this.

A Real Driverless Car

Two companies in the Twin Cities, Comtrol Corporation of Maple  Grove and SICK of Bloomington, helped develop a real driverless car.

There are plenty of gizmos and gadgets in the car, including GPS and a radar that help create the artificial intelligence needed to make the car work. Sensors on the bumper detect what's ahead. A camera on the hood sees lane markings and they all feed information to nine computers inside a car called Lone Wolf.

During a demonstration the car was told, via computer, to circle a parking lot five times. While it took itself for a spin, the technician tested if it could stop for pedestrians by stepping in front of it. On its own, it stopped about eight feet in front of a person in its path.

The real test will be on the battlefield. Just eight years from now, the military wants 30 percent of its vehicles to be driverless so fewer soldiers will die from dangers, like roadside bombs.

2. Language Study

Text B

Steve Shladover outlines the benefits to be gained from vehicles that could drive themselves and discusses how this could be achieved.

Intelligent Vehicles

Steve Shladover

1     Even when cars were still young, futurists began thinking about vehicles that could drive themselves, without human help. Perhaps the best known of these conjectures was the General Motors Futurama, the hit of the 1939 New York World's Fair. Now, at the start of the new century, it's worth taking a fresh look at this concept and asking how automation might change transportation and the quality of our lives.

2     Consider some of the implications of cars that could drive themselves.

● We might eliminate the more than ninety percent of traffic crashes that are caused by human errors such as misjudgments and inattention.

● We might reduce antisocial driving behavior such as road rage, thereby significantly reducing the stress of driving.

● The entire population, including the young, the old, and the infirm, might enjoy a higher level of mobility without requiring advanced driving skills.

● The luxury of being chauffeured to your destination might be enjoyed by all, not just the wealthiest individuals.

● Fuel consumption and pollution might be reduced by smoothing traffic flow and running vehicles close enough to each other to benefit from aerodynamic drafting.

● Traffic-management decisions might be based on firm knowledge of vehicle responses to instructions, rather than on guesses about the choices that drivers might make.

● The capacity of a freeway lane might be doubled or tripled, making it possible to accommodate growing demands for travel without major new construction, or, equivalently, today's level of congestion might be reduced, enabling travelers to save time.

Is it feasible?

3     This is now a realistic prospect. With advances in technology we can readily visualize your trip on an automated highway system.

4     Imagine leaving work at the end of the day and needing to drive only as far as the nearest on-ramp to the local automated highway. At the on-ramp, you press a button on your dashboard to select the off-ramp closest to your home and then relax as your car's electronic systems, in cooperation with roadside electronics and similar systems on other cars, guide your car smoothly, safely, and effortlessly toward your destination. En route you save time by maintaining full speed even at rush-hour traffic volumes. At the end of the off-ramp you resume normal control and drive the remaining distance to your home, better rested and less stressed than if you had driven the entire way.

5     Although many different technical developments are necessary to turn this image into reality, none requires exotic technologies, and all can be based on systems and components that are already being actively developed in the international motor vehicle industry. These could be viewed as replacements for the diverse functions that drivers perform every day: observing the road, observing the preceding vehicles, steering, accelerating, braking, and deciding when and where to change course.

Observing the road

6     Researchers have developed a road-reference and sensing system that makes it possible to determine accurately a vehicle's position and orientation relative to the lane's center. Cheap permanent magnets are buried at four-foot intervals along the lane centerline and detected by magnetometers mounted under the vehicle's bumpers. These meters provide the information used by the vehicle's control computer to determine the exact position of the vehicle.

7     Other researchers have used computer vision systems to observe the road. (1)  These are vulnerable to weather problems and provide less accurate measurements, but they do not require special roadway installations, other than well-maintained lane markings.

Observing preceding vehicles

8     The distances and closing rates to preceding vehicles can be measured by a radar or a laser rangefinder. Both technologies have already been implemented in commercially available systems inJapanand Europe. The laser systems are currently less expensive, but the radar systems are more effective at detecting dirty vehicles and operating in adverse weather conditions. As production volumes increase and unit costs decrease, the radars are likely to find increasing favor.

Steering, accelerating and braking

9     The equivalents of these driver muscle functions are electromechanical devices installed in the automated vehicle. They receive electronic commands from the onboard control computer and then apply the appropriate steering angle, throttle angle, and brake pressure by means of small electric motors. Early versions of these devices are already being introduced into production of vehicles, where they receive their commands directly from the driver's inputs to the steering wheel and pedals. These decisions are being made for reasons largely unrelated to automation. Rather they are associated with reduced energy consumption, simplification of vehicle design, enhanced ease of vehicle assembly, improved ability to adjust performance to match driver preferences, and cost savings compared to traditional direct mechanical control devices.

Deciding when and where to change course

10   Computers in the vehicles and those at the roadside have different functions. Roadside computers are better suited for traffic management, setting the target speed for each segment and lane of roadway, and allocating vehicles to different lanes of a multilane automated facility. The aim is to maintain balanced flow among the lanes and to avoid obstacles or incidents that might block a lane. The vehicle's onboard computers are better suited to handling decisions about exactly when and where to change lanes to avoid interference with other vehicles.

Remaining challenges

11   There remain a number of difficulties to be overcome. These are mainly technical, but there are in addition a number of non-technical challenges that need to be addressed. These involve issues of liability, costs, and perceptions.

12   Automated control of vehicles shifts liability for most crashes from the individual driver (and his or her insurance company) to the designer, developer, and vendor of the vehicle and roadway control systems. Provided the system is indeed safer than today's driver-vehicle-highway system, overall liability exposure should be reduced. But its costs will be shifted from automobile insurance premiums to the purchase or lease price of the automated vehicle and toll for use of the automated highway facility.

13   All new technologies tend to be costly when they first become available in small quantities, then their costs decline as production volumes increase and the technologies mature. We should expect vehicle automation technologies to follow the same pattern. They may initially be economically viable only for heavy vehicles (transit buses, commercial trucks) and high-end passenger cars. (2) However, it should not take long for the costs to become affordable to a wide range of vehicle owners and operators, especially with many of the enabling technologies already being commercialized for volume production today.

14   The largest impediment to introduction of electronic chauffeuring may turn out to be the general perception that it's more difficult and expensive to implement than it really is. If political and industrial decision makers perceive automated driving to be too futuristic, they will not pay it the attention it deserves and will not invest their resources toward accelerating its deployment. The perception could thus become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

15   It is important to recognize that automated vehicles are already carrying millions of passengers every day. Most major airports have automated people movers that transfer passengers among terminal buildings. Urban transit lines in Paris, London, Vancouver, Lyon, and Lille, among others, are operating with completely automated, driverless vehicles; some have been doing so for more than a decade. Modern commercial aircraft operate on autopilot for much of the time, and they also land under automatic control at suitably equipped airports on a regular basis.

16   Given all of this experience in implementing safe automated transportation systems, it is not such a large leap to develop road vehicles that can operate under automatic control. That should be a realistic goal for the next decade. The transportation system will thus gain substantial benefits from the revolution in information technology.

at the start of: at the beginning of

* At the start of the project, the students were rather confused.

新学期开始时，老师们都极其忙碌。

（＝At the start of a new semester, teachers are extremely busy. ）

thereby: adv. by that means or action

* They had failed to agree to a settlement, thereby throwing 250 people out of work.

新水坝将会增加水的供应，从而减少饥饿和疾病。

（＝The new dam will improve the water supply and thereby reduce hunger and disease.）

stress:

1. n. pressure or worry resulting from mental or physical distress

* Sleep, exercise, relaxation, and good nutrition are more important than ever during the stress of unemployment.

申请这份工作的人必须能够在压力下工作。

（＝Applicants for this job must be able to work under stress.）

2. v. put pressure on

*He was stressed out by all the traveling in his job.

有压力的人可能会掉头发。

（＝Stressed people may suffer hair loss.）

4. (Para. 2) accommodate: vt. have the room or capacity for

* This refrigerator is way too big to be accommodated in my kitchen.

这个狭窄的街道几乎容纳不下汽车。

（＝The narrow streets can hardly accommodate cars.）

feasible: adj.  that can be done; possible

*It's no longer feasible to fund this research.

克隆人类也许是可行的，但是这合乎道德吗？

（＝It may be feasible to clone human beings, but is it ethical?）

realistic: adj. having or showing a sensible and practical idea of what can be done, achieved, etc.

* Let's be realistic —we're not going to finish this by Friday.

她对自己获胜的机会有现实的认识。

（＝She is realistic about her chances of winning.）

select: v. choose (sb. / sth.) esp. as being the best or most suitable

* You can now select your favorite seat aboard the aircraft as early as 90 days before departure.

从这么多顶尖质量的节目中挑选真的很难。

（＝It is really hard to select from so many top quality programs.）

in cooperation with: in partnership with

* Brazil's CVRD will build steel plant in cooperation withChina's Baosteel.

这个俱乐部和足球协会密切合作。

（＝The clubs work in close cooperation with the Football Association.）

en route: adj. adv. (French) on the way; while traveling 

* En route from New York to Boston, the bus crashed into a stalled car.

救护车在去医院的途中。

（＝The ambulance is en route to the hospital.）

resume: v. start (sth.) again after stopping temporarily

* We hope to resume the experiment in October when Dr. Faulkner returns fromBritain.

我们现在去吃午饭吧。会议在下午两点继续。

（＝Let’s go for lunch now. The meeting will be resumed at 2 pm.）

11. (Para. 5) component: n. any of the parts of which sth. is made

* Fair pay for child-care providers is a vital component of welfare reform.

这辆车90％的组成部分是在本地生产的。

（＝Ninety percent of the components of this car are produced locally.）

implement: vt. put (sth.) into effect; carry (sth.) out

* Congress refused to pass the bill that would implement tax reforms.

我们新的计算机控制系统不久将完全实现。

（＝Our new computerized system will soon be fully implemented.）

equivalent: n. a thing, amount, word, etc. that is equal in value, importance, etc.

* She won the equivalent of $5 million.

在英语中没有单词与这个词相对应。

（＝There is no equivalent to this word in English.）

by means of: by using (sth.); with the help of (sth.)

* Students are selected for scholarships by means of an open, national competition.

可以通过一个管道将水从山上运下来。

（＝Water can be carried downhill by means of a pipe.）

address: vt. try to deal with (a problem or question); direct one's efforts towards

*The speaker addressed the effect of the current economic crisis on the banking system.

中美峰会将应对全球变暖的问题。

（＝The Chins-US summit will address the issue of global warming.）

shift: vt. pass (blame or responsibility) onto someone else

* The EU was criticized for shifting the responsibility for refugees to Africa.

不要把责任推卸给你哥哥！

（＝Don’t shift the blame to your brother!）

exposure: n. the state of being in a place or situation where there is no protection from sth. harmful or unpleasant

* Many young children now have exposure to computers at home.

存在暴露在辐射中的风险。

（＝There is a risk of exposure to radiation.）

costly: adj. costing a lot; expensive

* It was a noble idea, but it has turned out to be a costly plan.

我们需要更多努力才能使太空旅行安全、可行而且不太贵。

（＝Much effort is needed to make space travel safe, possible, and less costly.）

mature: v. (cause to) come to full development

* Humans take longer to mature than most other animals.

女孩比男孩成熟得早。

（＝Girls mature sooner than boys.）

affordable: adj. inexpensive enough for ordinary people to have

* Buying the right car insurance and shopping for the most affordable price are important considerations when you buy a new car.

政府有责任为低收入家庭开发买得起的住房。

（＝It’s the government’s responsibility to develop affordable housing for low-income families.）

3. Comprehension Task

A video clip

Watch a video clip and decide whether the following statements are True or False.

1. The car was developed by teams from Free University of Berlin.

(= True)

2. The car is completely controlled by a robot.

(= False. Like a robot, the car is completely controlled by computers.)

3. The sensor on the front, the video camera on the roof and the GPS system help to see the road the car drives on.

(= True)

4. At the moment, the car can only be programmed to drive along.

(= False. At the moment, the car can be programmed to drive along, overtake other vehicles, and avoid obstacles.)

5. We will see this autonomous car on the highway next year.

(= False. There would be some time before we would see driverless car on the road.)

Discussion

Watch another video clip which is also about Spirit of Berlin. With the knowledge you’ve got from Text B, discuss what makes Spirit of Berlin an autonomous car.

Tips:

drive-by-wire system

video cameras

laser 3D sensors

GPS

Wi-Fi

steering, brake and acceleration commands send over Wi-Fi

live video stream from car to iPhone