美国国家公共电台 NPR Self-Driving Cars Could Ease Our Commutes, But That'll Take A While

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right, here's something that will come as no surprise to anyone who drives to work. Maybe you're driving to work right now. Commuting¹ times are just getting longer and longer. The Census² Bureau says the average commute³ takes 26 minutes. That is 20 percent longer than in 1980. NPR's Yuki Noguchi is asking if self-driving cars, which might improve traffic flow, could shorten her commute.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE⁴: I'm standing⁵ here watching rush hour build. I'm overlooking the place where Interstate 66 and the Dulles Toll⁶ Road merge⁷ just outside Washington, D.C. It's here I meet Hesham Rakha, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech with a lifelong interest in traffic - how it flows and why it sometimes doesn't.

HESHAM RAKHA: Yeah, that's 66. It's 66.

NOGUCHI: It is, he says, extremely easy for human drivers to create traffic jams.

RAKHA: One little touching⁸ of the brake can pull the whole system down.

NOGUCHI: A driver taps his brake, subsequent drivers react, each braking harder than the next. Soon, traffic is crawling for no apparent reason.

RAKHA: So if we can prevent that congestion⁹ from happening, not only will we let vehicles travel faster, but we'll also get more vehicles through our system.

NOGUCHI: Self-driving cars can synchronize¹⁰. They communicate with one another, signaling disturbances¹¹ ahead, avoiding backups. To illustrate¹² how autonomous¹³ cars flow differently, Rakha pulls up a traffic simulator on his laptop.

RAKHA: This is what we call a fundamental diagram.

NOGUCHI: The simulator uses recent actual traffic data collected from the highway merge below us.

RAKHA: And the red is the congestion which spills back from this.

NOGUCHI: An algorithm then allows Rakha to simulate how the colored dots flow when some or all of the cars are autonomous. The biggest bugaboo of traffic - accidents caused by human error - go down dramatically. On the screen and we can see how the red dots indicating congestion gradually clear and become green moving dots.

Geoff Wardle teaches transportation design at the ArtCenter College of Design. He says he expects more people will share automated¹⁴ cars, creating less demand for parking, or the cars might park themselves. Either way...

GEOFF WARDLE: A significant amount of traffic congestion is caused by people going round and round the same two or three blocks looking for that place to park.

NOGUCHI: That's the positive side of self-driving cars. Here's the negative. Again, here's Wardle.

WARDLE: Human beings, we tend to like to try and cheat the system to gain personal advantage.

NOGUCHI: In fact, Virginia Tech engineer Rakha's research shows that once self-driving cars make their way onto our roads, it will take a while to see any improvements in traffic. The behavior of self-driving cars is predictable, but human behavior is not. So it's not until there are a lot of driverless cars on the road that we might see some easing of congestion. Put another way, some humans are jerks who try to cut in at the front of the line. Oh, you know who I'm talking about - Rakha certainly does.

RAKHA: And they'll cut across all the lanes and cause everyone delay just because they want to save a couple of seconds. They break down the whole system.

NOGUCHI: When people ask you so are automated cars going to reduce my commute time, what do you tell them?

RAKHA: I don't know the answer. If the road is less congested, more people are going to be attracted to that road and so basically will become congested because it's supply and demand.

NOGUCHI: If traffic does improve, in other words, more cars and trucks are likely to use the road. And for us right now...

Maybe we should get out of here before traffic gets bad.

RAKHA: Yeah, I think it's a good idea.

NOGUCHI: Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF REKI SONG, "THE ORIGIN")

1 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。

2 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

8 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

9 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。

10 synchronize   

v.使同步 [=synchronise]

参考例句：

• The sound on a film must synchronize with the action. 影片中的声音必须与动作配合一致。
• You must synchronize your Inbox before selecting additional folders. 在选择其他文件夹前，您必须同步您的收件箱。

11 disturbances   

n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍

参考例句：

• The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
• Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。

12 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

13 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

14 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。