VOA标准英语2013--New Navigation Technology Predicts Traffic Conditions

 

New Navigation Technology Predicts Traffic Conditions

In Los Angeles, a driver spends sixty-one hours every year on the road stuck in traffic.

Christian¹ Garcia knows what it's like. He delivers and installs televisions and is on the road all the time. "It’s a prison of cars. There’s too many cars, you can’t move around a lot," Garcia said.

Professor Cyrus Shahabi also knows about traffic jams. He lives more than 65 kilometers from his office at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. He says he always seems to be late.

"Everytime I walk into a meeting I would say I was stuck in traffic It sounds more now as an excuse than that really I was stuck in traffic, Shahabi said. That’s even with the help of a navigation system.

Shahabi and his PhD student Ugur Demiryurek decided² to develop a smart phone app that will do what other navigation systems cannot. It’s called ClearPath.

"I would never think that my PhD work would actually become a product for people," Demiryurek said.

Shahabi says ClearPath uses historical data to predict the traffic.

"What’s unique is that we utilize³ a lot of data that’s currently⁴ become available including traffic data, weather data, and we analyze⁵ that so that we can predict what’s going to happen in front of you when you leave home," Shahabi said.

ClearPath uses two and a half years worth of traffic data from 9,000 sensors⁶ on the roads of Los Angeles. It also collects information on accidents.

"Now you are driving you have an accident in front of you but the accident is 20 minutes away and you know from historical data that that accident would clear by the time you get there. We can take that into account and send you toward the accident because we think by the time you get there there wouldn’t be any accident," Shahabi said.

Shahabi says unlike other navigation systems that only respond to current traffic conditions, a driver can enter in advance what time he wants to leave on a specific time and date, and ClearPath will give the fastest route. ClearPath also looks at the entire road network, including surface streets as well as highways, before the driver hits the road. He says systems like Google Maps do not.

"Once you’re at the freeway, they don’t look at the surface streets anymore. They only look at the freeways until they get you close to your destination. At that time they look back at the surface street," Shahabi said.

Ugur Demiryurek says they will launch the free ClearPath app for roads in Los Angeles in two months. In a year, he and Shahabi aim to have ClearPath available nationwide and overseas once they can collect traffic data from other cities.

"I thought always that L.A. had the worst traffic but now I know that Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, believe it or not, Singapore, Hong Kong definitely are examples that can immediately utilize this," Shahabi said.

Shahabi hopes to license⁷ this new technology to firms who already have navigation systems, such as Google and Apple. 

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

4 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

5 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

6 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。