金融時(shí)報(bào):無(wú)人駕駛超越人類？

無(wú)人駕駛超越人類？

一位先鋒工程師表示：當(dāng)人類司機(jī)出現(xiàn)失誤，他會(huì)自己從中學(xué)習(xí)到經(jīng)驗(yàn)；而一輛無(wú)人駕駛的汽車出現(xiàn)失誤時(shí)，其他每一輛“汽車伙伴”都將從中吸取教訓(xùn)并且避免“無(wú)人駕駛司機(jī)”必然會(huì)超過(guò)人類司機(jī)——只是時(shí)間早晚的問(wèn)題。

測(cè)試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識(shí)：

banal陳腐的；平庸的；老一套的[b?'nɑ?l; -'n?l]

outlandish古怪的；奇異的[a?t'l?nd??]

commonplace老生常談；司空見(jiàn)慣的事；普通的東西['k?m?nple?s]

flurry疾風(fēng)；颶風(fēng)；騷動(dòng)['fl?r?]

sit idle坐視不管

clog up堵塞

smash into猛撞在……

boon恩惠；福利；利益

congestion擁擠；擁塞

envisage正視，面對(duì)；想像[?n'v?z?d?; en-]

whizzing發(fā)出嗖嗖聲；嗖嗖掠過(guò)['wizi?]

astonishing驚人的；令人驚訝的[?'st?n????]

throng人群；眾多[θr??]

inevitably不可避免地；必然地[?'nev?t?bl?; ?n'ev?t?bl?]

backlash反沖；強(qiáng)烈抵制['b?kl??]

provoke驅(qū)使；激怒；煽動(dòng)；惹起[pr?'v??k]

visionary空想家；夢(mèng)想者；有眼力的人['v??(?)n(?)r?]

dichotomy paradox兩分法悖論：在兩分法悖論中，芝諾要論證的是：一個(gè)正在行走的人永遠(yuǎn)到達(dá)不了他的目的地，因此，運(yùn)動(dòng)是不可能的。

Stalinist斯大林主義：是指控制蘇聯(lián)和受蘇聯(lián)影響的社會(huì)主義陣營(yíng)內(nèi)的國(guó)家，在約瑟夫·斯大林統(tǒng)治下及其之后的共產(chǎn)主義理論。

Humans are the main obstacle to the driverless revolution （737 words）

By John Thornhill

Brilliant technologies transform the magical into the banal. An idea that seems outlandish to one generation becomes commonplace to the next. So it has been with electricity, space flight and the internet. So it is likely to prove with driverless cars.

The past few weeks have seen a flurry of announcements. Singapore has launched the world's first public trial of a robo-taxi service. Uber and Volvo announced that they would pioneer an autonomous taxi fleet in Pittsburgh within weeks. Ford said it would build its first mass-market driverless car by 2021.

To their backers, autonomous cars cannot arrive quickly enough. Conventional cars are inefficient, dangerous and dirty. They sit idle for 95 per cent of their lives, clogging up city streets and car parks. When moving, they smash into each other, killing 3,500 people every day around the world. Ninety per cent of accidents are caused by human error. Cars pollute the environment, accounting for 45 per cent of oil burnt.

The widespread adoption of fully autonomous and, still better, electric cars could therefore be a massive boon to mankind. It could lead to a far more efficient use of resources, save many lives and reduce congestion and pollution. Futurologists envisage small fleets of shareable, connected cars constantly whizzing around our cities picking up passengers on demand. McKinsey forecasts that 15 per cent of new cars could be fully autonomous by 2030.

But two obstacles block their widespread adoption. The first remains technological. For all the astonishing advances made in recent years, it is phenomenally difficult to replicate humans as sensory beings.

How does a car distinguish between a plastic bag blowing across a road and a runaway dog? How does a car nudge its way through a throng of people outside a football stadium?

Engineers argue that the genius of self-driving cars is their connectedness. “When human drivers make a mistake the individual learns from it,” says one Silicon Valley pioneer. “When a self-driving car makes a mistake then every other car will learn from a mistake once an engineer has fixed it. It is just a matter of time before our technology surpasses human capacity.”

But sceptics compare autonomous car technology with Zeno's dichotomy paradox: every leap will take us halfway to our destination without ever reaching it.

No matter how hard the technology proves, it may be the easier part of the puzzle. A stiffer challenge remains the human. Even when manufacturers and software engineers develop fully autonomous cars in which they have total trust, it will still take many years, if not decades, for them to be freely embraced by governments and consumers.

First, there is the instinctive human resistance to handing over control to a robot, especially given fears of cyber-hacking. Second, for many drivers cars are an extension of their identity, a mechanical symbol of independence, control and freedom. They will not abandon them lightly.

Third, robots will always be held to far higher safety standards than humans. They will inevitably cause accidents. They will also have to be programmed to make a calculation that could kill their passengers or bystanders to minimise overall loss of life. This will create a fascinating philosophical sub-school of algorithmic morality. “Many of us are afraid that one reckless act will cause an accident that causes a backlash and shuts down the industry for a decade,” says the Silicon Valley engineer. “That would be tragic if you could have saved tens of thousands of lives a year.”

Fourth, the deployment of autonomous vehicles could destroy millions of jobs. Their rapid introduction is certain to provoke resistance. There are 3.5m professional lorry drivers in the US.

Fifth, the insurance industry and legal community have to wrap their heads around some tricky liability issues. In what circumstances is the owner, car manufacturer or software developer responsible for damage?

Some governments, such as those of Singapore, China and the UK, as well as several states in the US are creating permissive regulatory and legal environments. Regulators can certainly speed adoption by approving designated lanes for autonomous cars, for example, and devising international safety rules and standards. Conversely, politicians may yet succumb to the pressure of public fears and vested interests and frustrate the roll out of self-driving cars.

Autonomous car visionaries may soon be able to perfect the technology. But their success may be determined by how good they are — in Stalinist terminology — as engineers of human souls.

請(qǐng)根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測(cè)題目：

1.When will Ford build its first mass-market driverless car?

A.2017

B.2020

C.2021

D.2025

答案(1)

2.Which is not right about the conventional cars?

A.inefficient

B.dangerous

C.fast speed

D.dirty

答案(2)

3.Which is not the advantage of the electric cars?

A.more efficient use of resources

B.lead to traffic jams

C.save many lives

D.reduce pollution

答案(3)

4.Which one is not the worry of the driverless car?

A.instinctive human resistance

B.same safety standards than humans

C.destroy millions of jobs

D.the influence of the insurance industry and legal community

答案(4)

* * *

(1)答案：C.2021

解釋：福特計(jì)劃在2021年做到其第一批大銷量無(wú)人駕駛汽車。

(2)答案：C.fast speed

解釋：傳統(tǒng)的汽車并不高效，而且還危險(xiǎn)不干凈。

(3)答案：B.lead to traffic jams

解釋：會(huì)給人們帶來(lái)很多益處，比如可以更加高效使用能源，可以挽救很多由于交通事故而喪失的無(wú)辜性命，以及降低排氣對(duì)環(huán)境造成的污染。

(4)答案：B.same safety standards than humans

解釋：無(wú)人駕駛汽車會(huì)給人們帶來(lái)很多擔(dān)憂，比如人們從心底里對(duì)機(jī)器人操作的排斥感，大批量使用無(wú)人駕駛汽車會(huì)導(dǎo)致很多人失去工作，還有就是會(huì)影響保險(xiǎn)法律公司，使他們很難追究無(wú)人駕駛的事故責(zé)任。