【推荐3】Makers of self-driving, or autonomous vehicles have raised tens of billions of dollars based on promises to develop the fully robotic product.

However, industry leaders and experts say the technology may forever require human supervision(监督).Supporters of autonomous vehicles, or AVs, say that computers and robotic technology will reduce the number of traffic accidents. But actually, making self-driving cars safer than human-operated is complex(复杂的). Self-driving programming has no the human ability to predict and recognize risk quickly. Kyle Vogt is the head of General Motors (GM). When asked if he believed humans could ever be completely free of vehicle operation, Vogt questioned the values of such a goal.

GM recalled and updated software in 80 Cruise self-driving vehicles this month after an accident in June. Two people were injured in the accident in San Francisco, California. U.S. safety officials said the recalled software could “incorrectly predict” an oncoming vehicle’s path. Cruise said its vehicles would not make the same mistake again after the update.

For some, the need for human supervision increases doubt about the technology. And entirely self-driving vehicles are far behind in development that industry leaders have promised. In 2018, GM wanted to get U.S. government approval for a fully autonomous car. It had no steering wheel(方向盘) or brake or gas pedals. It was to be marketed in 2019. But that vehicle, the Cruise Origin, now is not expected to begin production until spring 2023, Vogt said. In 2019, Tesla head Elon Musk promised 1 million robotaxis would be in place by 2020. His company’s “Full Self Driving” feature has been criticized(批评) because its cars use human operators. In June, Musk said that building self-driving cars had been far more difficult than he had expected. He said: “If these companies don’t succeed over the next two years, they’re not going to exist anymore.”

Many AV companies today use humans as remote piloting supervisors(远程驾驶监督员). They support self-driving cars in dealing with unexpected events on the road. The industry calls these “edge cases.” Edge cases could include street closures for roadwork, or unpredictable actions by a human driver or walker. Kaveh said their work is similar to air traffic controllers but for autonomous cars instead of planes. Cruise’s Vogt says the company’s AVs on the roads in San Francisco currently depend on humans less than one percent of the time. But across thousands or even millions of AVs, that would add up to a large amount of time stopped on the road waiting for human guidance. “I am worried that AV companies will rush to market without proving the safety is better than human-driven vehicles,” he said.

【推荐1】I have been a professional skateboarder for 24 years. For much of that time, the activity that paid my rent and gave me my greatest joy was marked with many labels, most of which were ugly.

When I was about 17, three years after I turned pro-skater, my high school “careers” teacher scolded me and told me that I would never make it in the workplace if I didn’t follow directions clearly. He said I’d never make a living as a skateboarder, so it seemed to him that my future was bleak.

Even during those dark years, I never stopped progressing as a skater. There have been many times when I’ve been frustrated because I can’t join in some formal training. I’ve come to realize that the only way to master something is to keep it -- despite the bloody knees, twisted ankles, or mocking crowds.

So here I am, 38 years old, a husband and father of three, with a lengthy list of responsibilities and obligations. And although I have many job titles -- CEO, Executive Producer, Senior Consultant, Foundation Chairman, Bad Actor -- the one I am most proud of is “Professional Skateboarder”. My youngest son’s pre-school class was recently asked what their dads do for work. My son said, “I’ve never seen my dad do work.”

It’s true. Skateboarding doesn’t seem like real work, but I’m proud of what I do. My parents never once questioned the practicality behind my passion. I hope to pass on the same lesson to my children someday. So, find the thing you love. My 13-year-old son is really gifted skater, but there’s a lot of pressure on him. He used to skate for recognition, but now he brushes all that stuff aside. He just skates for fun and that’s good enough for me.

【推荐2】An icon (偶像) from my childhood, Linda Ronstadt announced this week that she has Parkinson’s disease and has lost her ability to sing. One of her songs that I was singing for a long time without realizing it was, “Poor, poor, poor, me, poor, poor, pitiful me.” However, she is doing anything but saying, poor me. She is embracing (欣然接受) her accomplishments and bringing enlightenment (启迪) to the world by sharing her journey. It is wonderful that they are recording her voice via interviews for the generations to come, as she will more than likely lose her ability to speak clearly. I have enjoyed listening to these interviews.

As a young girl, I had dreams about being a journalist one day. I put those dreams away with reality, along with my writing. I was singing poor, poor, poor me for a long, long time. Once I changed my song, opened myself up to the world and allowed things to flow my way... I continue to be constantly amazed.

People actually notice what I have to say. Yes, I have found my voice...and I like it! I am overjoyed each week when over 700 followers of The Year of the Cicadas blog read what I have floating around in my head. If you are reading this blog, thank you. It really does matter to me.

Last week I was asked to submit a blog for consideration to the Huffington Post. Do you know they have over 43,240,000 readers every month?! I have no idea if it will be accepted or not, that is not the point. The point is that I was asked and they wrote me back and said,“Perfect. Thank you so much for doing the work. It was worth it.”Wow, this is a big moment for me, and for that young girl who one day long ago dreamed about writing an article that would be published.