第1466期:Driverless cars

As the relentless pace of technology continues to advance, companies must adapt or get left behind.随着技术的不断进步，公司必须适应或落后。 One of the key areas of contention these days is the driverless car.如今，争论的关键领域之一是无人驾驶汽车。 Autonomous cars have long been featured in science fiction movies and books, but in recent years they have moved from a pipe dream to a reality.自动驾驶汽车长期以来一直出现在科幻电影和书籍中，但近年来它们已经从白日梦变成了现实。The development of the autonomous car actually started in the 1920s, but it wasn't until the 1980s that the first prototypes were successfully created, one of which was designed by Mercedes-Benz.自动驾驶汽车的开发实际上始于 1920 年代，但直到 1980 年代才成功制造出第一批原型车，其中一辆由梅赛德斯-奔驰设计。Since then the technology has gone from strength to strength and these days many companies are jumping on the bandwagon. 从那时起，这项技术不断发展壮大，如今，许多公司都加入了这一行列。Uber is the latest to announce its plan to unroll a fleet of driverless cars. 优步是最新宣布计划推出无人驾驶汽车的公司。It follows Apple and Ford, who have announced similar plans, and Google and Tesla, who already have autonomous cars on the road.紧随其后的是宣布了类似计划的苹果和福特，以及已经有自动驾驶汽车上路的谷歌和特斯拉。Two questions arise: Do we really need them? And are they really safe? Advocates of driverless cars would argue 'yes' to both.出现了两个问题：我们真的需要它们吗？他们真的安全吗？无人驾驶汽车的拥护者会对两者都说“是”。 Vehicular autonomy, if perfected, could lead to much safer road conditions for all, lower insurance costs and enhance mobility for the elderly, the sick and those with disabilities. 车辆自主性如果得到完善，可以为所有人带来更安全的道路条件，降低保险成本，并增强老年人、病人和残疾人的机动性。They would also allow roads to increase their capacity between 200 – 400%.他们还将允许道路将其容量增加 200% 至 400%。Perfection, though, seems to be just out of reach at the moment. To date Google's self-driving car, launched in 2012, has had 14 minor accidents.不过，目前看来，完美似乎遥不可及。迄今为止，谷歌于 2012 年推出的自动驾驶汽车已经发生了 14 起小事故。 Even worse, Tesla's Autopilot has caused one fatality in 2015, where the vehicle simply did not see the obstacle.更糟糕的是，特斯拉的自动驾驶仪在 2015 年造成了一起死亡事故，车辆根本没有看到障碍物。While the technology exists, driverless cars and full vehicular autonomy is still embryonic. 虽然这项技术存在，但无人驾驶汽车和完全车辆自主性仍处于萌芽状态。That said, you can rest assured that further development in the field is inevitable.也就是说，您可以放心，该领域的进一步发展是不可避免的。 And what’s the future? Well, George Marcus, co-founder of Geometric Intelligence – Uber's autonomous development department – imagines a world of flying cars taking us to work.未来是什么？好吧，Geometric Intelligence（Uber 的自主开发部门）的联合创始人乔治·马库斯（George Marcus）想象了一个飞行汽车带我们去工作的世界。 He says "They're going to allow people to take long commutes at 75 or 150 mph where you'd otherwise get stuck in traffic.他说：“他们将允许人们以 75 或 150 英里/小时的速度进行长途通勤，否则你会被堵在路上。 It's really, in a not-too-distant future, going to be something that is practical." Wouldn't that be fine?真的，在不远的将来，它会成为实用的东西。”这不是很好吗？词汇表relentless 持续不断的pace 步伐adapt 适应，改变contention 争议，争论autonomous 无人驾驶的，自动的pipe dream 幻想，不现实的计划prototype （机器、工业产品等）原型go from strength to strength 日益强大，蒸蒸日上jumping on the bandwagon 跟风，紧跟潮流unroll 公开展示，发布a fleet of cars 一组车队advocates 拥护者，提倡者vehicular autonomy 车辆自动驾驶（技术）mobility 行动能力capacity 负荷out of reach 遥不可及的fatality 死亡事故embryonic 未成熟的，初期的inevitable 必然会发生的