经济学人:自由交流:"无人驾驶"带来巨大商机(1)

 　　But reductions in traffic will make living in currently congested areas more attractive and hence more populous¹. 但是，交通拥堵的缓解将使现有拥堵的区域更有吸引力，因此人口会更加密集。

　　Miles travelled per person might also rise, since self-driving technology frees passengers to use travel time for work or sleep. 每人驾驶的英里数可能也会增加，因为自主驾驶技术使乘客从开车的时间中解放出来，让他们可以利用这段时间工作或睡觉。

　　And just as new highways prompt a rise in transport-intensive business, driverless vehicles could generate lots of new road-using activity. 同时，由于新的高速路促进了运输密集行业的增加，无人驾驶汽车能够产生更多新的公路活动。

　　Where now a worker might pop into the coffee shop before going to work, for example, a latte might soon be delivered in a driverless vehicle. 例如，现在的工人在上班之前可能会去咖啡店，可能不久以后一杯拿铁就可以由一辆无人驾驶汽车中送到。

　　The technology of driverless cars may make us safer and more productive, but not necessarily less traffic-bound. 无人驾驶的技术可能是我们更安全也更有生产力，但是并不一定是更少的交通出行。

　　It might, however, improve traffic by making it easier, politically, to impose tolls² on roads. 然而，可以通过在政治上更简单征收公路通行费来改善交通情况。

　　Jams occur because a scarce resource, the road, is underpriced, so more people drive than it can accommodate. 因为公路这一稀缺资源定价太低，所以更多人开车，超过了它可以容纳交通，拥堵就发生了。

　　But tolls could favour use of the roadway by those who value it most. 但是，通行费可能比较喜欢那些最认可公价值的人使用公路。

　　Some places already use such charges—London and Singapore are examples—but they are rarely popular. 一些地方已经开始使用这样的收费——比如伦敦和新加坡——但是他们并不受欢迎。

　　Some drivers balkat paying for what they once got for nothing, and others are uneasy about the tracking of private vehicles that efficient pricing requires. 一些司机很不情愿地为他们之前可以免费使用的资源付钱，另一些人则对跟踪私人汽车感到不安，而跟踪是高效收费所要求的。

　　People seem not to object to paying by the mile when they are bring driven—by taxis and services like Uber and Lyft—and the driverless programmes now being tested by Waymo and GM follow this model. 当人们乘坐出租车和使用像Uber和Lyft一样的服务时，似乎并不反对按公里收费，现在有Maymo和GM测试的无人驾驶项目正在沿用这个模式.

　　If a driverless world is one in which people generally buy rides rather than cars, then not only might fewer unnecessary journeys be made,  如果无人驾驶的世界是一个人们通常购买里程而不是汽车的世界，那么，不仅仅会有更少的不必要的出行，

　　but also political resistance to road-pricing could ease, and congestion³ with it. 并且缓解了公路收费的政治抵制，同时缓解了拥堵。

1 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

2 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

3 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。