Tesla’s self-driving cars have recently come under investigation as a report on crashes raises questions about their safety. Despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s claim that their Autopilot capability makes their cars “ extremely safer,” data suggests otherwise.
According to The Washington Post, the number of deaths and serious injuries associated with Tesla’s driver-assistance technology is higher than previously reported. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recorded 736 crashes since 2019, with at least 17 of them being fatal. These figures include crashes involving both Autopilot, which allows cars to drive on highways without human intervention(干预), and the newer Full Self-Driving feature, which extends automation to city streets. However, these statistics can’t record incidents that were avoided due to the cars’ safety features. Additionally, when compared to the total number of car crashes that occurred last year, the number of crashes involving driver-assistance vehicles appears relatively small, but actually it’s not.
Tesla’s safety claims lack context as Autopilot is primarily designed for highways, while most accidents occur in more complex environments with cross-traffic, pedestrians, and cyclists. Moreover, Tesla’s customer base consists mainly of wealthier individuals who live in communities with lower accident rates.
Concerns are raised by Tesla’s request to the NHTSA not to reveal whether Autopilot or Full Self-Driving was in use during fatal crashes. This lack of transparency (透明) prevents a comprehensive analysis of the incidents and raises questions about responsibility.
Safety exaggerations combined with Tesla’s aggressive marketing have led to accidents caused by drivers relying too heavily on the system. Full Self-Driving does not allow the car to fully drive itself, and drivers are expected to remain attentive and ready to intervene at all times. However, Tesla’s messaging may mislead some users into believing otherwise.
While a driverless future has the potential to be safer, it is crucial not to convince the public that underdeveloped capabilities are ready for widespread use. Tesla should address past problems, ensure their automation set can detect(检测) emergency vehicles, and be transparent with the public about the limitations of their technology.
1. What can we learn about Tesla’s driver-assistance-related crashes?A.736 fatal cases of self-driving are recorded. |
B.NHTSA focused on the crashes on highways. |
C.The total number of car crashes is extremely small. |
D.The incidents avoided are not counted in the crash statistics. |
A.They are supported by comprehensive data. |
B.They are based on limited driving environment. |
C.They are restricted to the experiences of satisfied customers. |
D.They have been proven to be accurate and reliable by NHTSA. |
A.It is ill-received. | B.It is well-developed. |
C.It needs the driver to stay focused. | D.It reduces the accidents greatly. |
A.Concerns and Questions Surrounding Tesla’s “Self-Driving” Cars |
B.Tesla’s Self-Driving Cars: The Safest Option of Driving on the Road |
C.The Future of Self-Driving Cars: A Closer Look at Tesla’s Technology |
D.Reconstruction and Revolution of Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】You won't be able to control everything your teens do when they drive, but you can teach them about the importance of vehicle safety.
Locking the door upon entering the vehicle
Did your teens know they should lock the doors immediately upon entering the vehicle? If your teens haven t been taught this, then they probably won’t do so.
Driving a safe vehicle
Avoiding distractions
Looking at phones or controlling the radio while driving could make your teens seriously injured or worse.
You need to show that you’re confident of your teens’ driving skills,even if your teens’ speeding up too fast or hitting the brakes too hard scares you. Instead of yelling and stressing out on such occasions, try your best to speak calmly. They will react much better to quiet comments than cold words.
Respecting speed limits
There’s something about being young and learning to drive that comes with a strong wish for speed.
However, you can help them see the importance of following the rules and keeping themselves safe.
A.Staying calm |
B.Presenting the traffic rules |
C.So make sure they know that |
D.Teach them to lock their doors |
E.Your teens will buy their car one day |
F.You might not be able to stop the occasional speeding ticket |
G.These will help them better control the vehicle and offer protection in the event of an accident |
【推荐2】For those who make journeys across the world, the speed of travel today has turned the countries into a series of villages. Distances between them appear no greater to a modern traveler than those which once faced men as they walked from village to village. Jet planes fly people from one end of the earth to the other, allowing them a freedom of movement undreamt of a hundred years ago.
Yet some people wonder if the revolution in travel has gone too far. A price has been paid, they say, for the conquest(征服) of time and distance. Travel is something to be enjoyed, not endured. The boat offers leisure and time enough to appreciate the ever-changing sights and sounds of a journey. A journey by train also has a special charm about it. Lakes and forests and wild, open plains sweeping past your carriage window create a grand view in which time and distance mean nothing. On board a plane, however, there is just the blank blue of the sky filling the narrow window of the airplane. The soft lighting, in-flight films and gentle music make up the only world you know, and the hours progress slowly.
Then there is the time spent being “processed” at a modern airport. People are conveyed(运送) like robots along walkways; baggage is weighed, tickets produced, examined and produced yet again before the passengers move to another waiting area. Journeys by rail and sea take longer, yes, but the hours devoted to being “processed” at departure and arrival in airports are luckily absent. No wonder, then, that the modern high-speed trains are winning back passengers from the airlines.
Man, however, is now a world traveler and cannot refuse the airplane. The working lives of too many people depend upon it; whole new industries have been built around its design and operation. The holiday maker, too, with limited time to spend, patiently endures the busy airports and limited space of the flight to gain those extra hours and even days, relaxing in the sun. Speed controls people’s lives; time saved, in work or play, is the important thing—or so we are told. Perhaps those first horsemen, riding free across the wild, open plains, were enjoying a better world than the one we know today. They could travel at will, and the clock was not their master.
1. What does the writer try to express in the first paragraph?A.Travel by plane has speeded up the growth of villages. |
B.The speed of modern travel has made distances relatively short. |
C.The freedom of movement has helped people realize their dreams. |
D.Man has been fond of traveling rather than staying in one place. |
A.By giving examples. |
B.By analyzing cause and effect. |
C.By following the order of time. |
D.By giving instructions. |
A.they pay less for the tickets. |
B.they feel safer during the travel. |
C.they can enjoy higher speed of travel. |
D.they don’t have to waste time being “processed”. |
A.Air travel benefits people and industries. |
B.Train Travel has some advantages over air travel. |
C.The high speed of air travel is gained at a cost. |
D.Great changes have taken place in modern travel. |
【推荐3】The same area where the Wright brothers developed the first airplane will soon see electric planes that take off and land vertically (垂直地). The planes, called “flying taxis” will be produced under an agreement between the state of Ohio and Joby Aviation at Dayton International Airport.
Joby Aviation is a 14-year-old company that went public in 2021 and became the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) firm to receive a special kind of permission from the US Air Force. Its production efforts are supported by partnerships with Toyota, Delta Air Lines, Intel and Uber.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine told The Associated Press, “When you’re talking about air taxis, that’s the future.”
Developers say the planes are nearing the day when they will provide a way to move individual people or small groups from the top of buildings and parking spaces to their destinations.
Around the world, eVTOL. aircrafts or flying taxis are becoming more common. Still, questions remain about noise levels and charging demands.
Engineers designed Joby’s production aircraft to transport a pilot and four passengers at the speed of up to 321.87 kilometers per hour. The aircraft can cover a distance of up to 160. 93 kilometers. It is a quiet machine that can barely be heard in most cities, the company said. The plan is to place them in aerial ride sharing networks beginning in 2025.
The $500 million project is supported by up to $325 million in payments from the state of Ohio. With the money, Joby plans to build an Ohio facility capable of delivering up to 500 aircrafts a year and creating 2,000 jobs. The US Department of Energy has invited Joby to apply for a loan to support the development of the facility as a clean energy project.
Joby CEO JocBen Bevirt told the AP that the company chose Ohio after a large and competitive search. Ohio’s financial deal was not the largest, but the chance to bring the operation to the birthplace of aviation — with a workforce experienced in the field — led to the deal, he said.
1. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 2?A.Summarize the previous paragraph. | B.Provide some advice for the readers. |
C.Add some background information. | D.Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Unconcerned. | C.Unclear. | D.Positive. |
A.It hardly makes any noise. | B.It doesn’t need to be charged. |
C.It carries at most 6 passengers. | D.It covers a distance of 321.87km. |
A.The Life of the Wright Brothers | B.Flying Taxis to be Made in Ohio |
C.A Competitive Future for Aircrafts | D.The Development of Joby Aviation |
【推荐1】A team of Chinese researchers have recently developed a new type of self-powered flexible and transparent(透明的) electronic skin to monitor human activities, shedding light on the future of wearable electronics. This new e-skin integrates a flexible transparent supercapacitor(超级电容器)as an energy storage device with a stretchable transparent strain sensor(应变传感器). Thanks to its mechanical softness, the integrated e-skin can be directly attached to various parts on the body.
As the largest organ of human body, skin is responsible for multiple major functions such as protection, perspiration (出汗) , regulation of body temperature, and sensory stimulation(感觉刺激) . It forms the basis of people’s physical interactions with the outside world.
The ideal e-skin should be highly sensitive, self-powered, and suitable for the human skin. “Inspired by sensory functions and performance of real human skin, we have made the new e-skin both flexible and transparent to serve multiple functions. After charging, it is capable of monitoring of people’s subtle physical signals and multi-scaled activities in real- time. It can measure a person’s pulse, tell when they are swallowing, and detect other body movements,” said Lan Wei, a professor at the School of Physical Science and Technology of Lanzhou University and the leader of the research team.
E-skin is the core of future wearable electronic devices. The new invention can be applied in smart health care, human-machine interaction, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. For example, it could help surgeons control surgical robots more precisely(精确地), enable people to “touch” over long distances, and create more immersive(沉浸式的) gaming experiences.
Going ahead, the research team will focus on strengthening the sensory capacity and power supply of the e-skin, making it even more like human skin, which will in turn make it more adaptive to various future applications.
1. What is the purpose of the new wearable e-skin?A.To monitor human activities. |
B.To regulate body temperature. |
C.To slow down the aging of human skin. |
D.To improve the flexibility of human skin. |
A.It has large battery storage. |
B.It can be attached to human skin directly. |
C.It can meet diverse functional requirements. |
D.It is highly sensitive to environmental change. |
A.Its target users. | B.Its medical value. |
C.Its working theory. | D.Its application potential. |
A.Electronic Skin: A New Breakthrough |
B.Electronic Skin: A Technology Reform |
C.Electronic Skin: The Welfare to Human Health |
D.Electronic Skin: The Model of Wearable Devices |
【推荐2】Priscilla Ouchida’s “energy efficient” house turned out to be a horrible dream. When she and her engineer husband married a few years ago, they built a $100,000 three-bedroom home in California. Tightly sealed to prevent air leaks, the house was equipped with small double-paned windows and several other energy-saving features. Problems began as soon as the couple moved in, however. Priscilla’s eyes burned. Her throat was constantly dry. She suffered from headaches and could hardly sleep. It was as though she had suddenly developed a strange illness.
Experts finally traced the cause of her illness. The level of formaldehyde gas in her kitchen was twice the maximum allowed by federal standards for chemical workers. The source of the gas? Her new kitchen cabinets and wall-to-wall carpeting.
The Ouchidas are victims of indoor air pollution, which is not given sufficient attention partly because of the nation’s drive to save energy. The problem itself isn’t new. “The indoor environment was dirty long before energy conservation came along,” says Moschandreas, a pollution scientist at Geomet Technologies in Maryland. “Energy conservation has tended to accentuate the situation in some cases.”
The problem appears to be more troublesome in newly constructed homes rather than old ones. Back in the days when energy was cheap, home builders didn’t worry much about unsealed cracks. Because of such leaks, the air in an average home was replaced by fresh outdoor air about once an hour. As a result, the pollutants generated in most households seldom built up to dangerous levels.
1. It can be learned from the passage that the Ouchidas’ house ________.A.is well worth the money spent on its construction |
B.is almost faultless from the point of energy conservation |
C.failed to meet energy conservation standards |
D.was designed and constructed in a scientific way |
A.Poor quality of the air inside. | B.Poor quality of the construction. |
C.Gas leakage in the kitchen. | D.The newly painted walls. |
A.relieve | B.accelerate | C.worsen | D.improve |
A.Because indoor cleanliness was not emphasized. |
B.Because energy used to be inexpensive. |
C.Because environmental protection was given top priority. |
D.Because they were technically unavoidable. |
【推荐3】On a three-lane (车道) test track along the Monongahela River, an 18-wheel truck rounded a bend. No one was on board. A quarter mile ahead, the truck’s sensors spotted a garbage can blocking one lane and a tire in another. In less than a second, it signaled and moved into the unblocked lane.
The self-driving truck is owned by Pitsburgh-based Aurora Innovation. Late this year, Aurora plans to start transporting goods on Interstate 45 between the Dallas and Houston areas with 20 driverless trucks. Within three or four years, Aurora and its competitors expect to put thousands of such self-driving trucks on America’s public freeways.
The companies say the autonomous trucks will save on fuel, because they don’t have to stop and will drive at more consistent speeds. Also, Aurora says its testing has shown that if a maintenance issue arises while one of its trucks is traveling on a freeway, the vehicle will automatically pull over to the side of the road and remotely call for assistance.
These unmanned vehicles have drawn doubt from safety advocates, who warn that with almost no regulation (监管), it will be mainly up to the companies themselves to determine when the trucks are safe enough to operate without humans on board. The critics complain that federal agencies, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, take a generally passive approach to safety, typically acting only after crashes occur.
But Aurora and other companies that are developing the systems argue that years of testing show that their trucks will actually be safer than human-driven ones. They note that the vehicles’ sensors can “see” farther than human eyes. The trucks never tire, as human drivers do. They never become distracted by alcohol or drugs.
Patti Pierce, a retired accountant from Plano, Texas, said she would be OK with the self driving technology in about a decade. “I don’t want to be on the road with them right now, ” she said, “I’m not sure whether the technology is good enough right now to have a truck that drives itself. ”
1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?A.How to pass a driving test. | B.The advantages of driverless trucks |
C.How to operate autonomous trucks. | D.The competition between companies. |
A.It is insufficient. | B.It is satisfactory. |
C.It is unnecessary. | D.It is overstrict. |
A.It is advanced enough. | B.It still needs improving. |
C.It will replace human drivers. | D.It should be put into use right away |
A.The Long Road to Driverless Trucks |
B.An Accident Report on the US Highway |
C.Driverless Trucks to Be Tested on Roads |
D.Unmanned Trucks Set to Hit US Highways |
【推荐1】With news that many countries in Europe are reopening to tourism in time for summer, travelers with their sights set on Asia are anxiously awaiting word on when they’ll be given the green light to visit their favorite destination. As of now, those with Thailand in mind will need to wait at least a few more months before packing their bags.“It is still dependent on the outbreak situation, but I think at the earliest, we may see the return of tourists could be the fourth quarter of this year,” Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said.
And even then, he says, there will likely be restrictions on who can visit and where they can go. “We are not going to open all at once,” he adds. “We are still on high alert, we just can’t let our guards down yet. We have to look at the country of origin (of the travelers) to see if their situation has truly improved. And lastly, we have to see whether our own business operators are ready to receive tourists under the ‘new normal’.” Basically, a country will open borders with destinations that also have their coronavirus(新冠病毒) situation under control. Once Thailand does open to international tourists, they’ll likely only be able to visit certain spots, says Yuthasak. “We have studied a possibility of offering special long-stay packages in isolated and closed areas where health monitoring can be easily controlled -- for example, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Samui. This will be beneficial for both tourists and local residents, since this is almost a kind of quarantine(隔离).”
Yuthasak says they’re finishing up a framework to restart tourism, but baby steps are needed to relight international tourism. “The next step is bilateral agreements between countries,” he says. “Thailand’s good standing in the face of the crisis with China, along with strong demand, make it a logical short-term solution for overseas tourism to return to the Kingdom.” For now, Thailand isn’t taking any chances and the country’s borders are firmly shut.
1. When will Thailand reopen to tourists according to Yuthasak Supasorn ?A.We don’t know yet. | B.Maybe in two months. |
C.Perhaps about in October. | D.At the end of this year. |
A.They will ask where the tourists will go. |
B.They will send guards to follow the tourists. |
C.They will ask business operators to decide. |
D.They will check where the tourists come form. |
A.Tourists can’t visit spots as many as they like. |
B.Tourists will stay in isolated and closed areas. |
C.Tourists will get food and drink form government. |
D.Tourists can’t stay long in Thailand. |
A.Come and visit Thailand. | B.Thailand isn’t reopening yet. |
C.Thailand’s tourism is back to life. | D.Why tourists like Thailand. |
【推荐2】Are you an “I person” or an “E person”? These two personality labels in particular are widely discussed online. They are part of a popular personality test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. All of the results have four letters, and there are 16 results in total, “I” and “E” refer to “introverted” and “extroverted”, respectively.
Even if someone is typically quiet, many online discussions suggest that an “I person” can still act outgoing at times. For example, when an introverted person is with a group of introverted friends, they might become more social like an “E person”. According to psychologists, this idea of temporarily switching personalities is called “masking”. That is hiding your true personality in specific situations.
“Human beings want to feel they belong, and they might become people-pleasers to do so,” wrote the MasterClass website.
Thinking on this, I may actually be the kind of person that these people are discussing. Most times, I just wish to make the atmosphere more interesting and exciting and show people that I’m easy to get along with. But deep down, I mostly enjoy being alone and quiet.
Using the MBTI result to identify and describe someone’s personality seems fun. However, I went too far at one time. My sister was excitedly making a day-to-day travel plan when I remembered from an article that “P people” don’t like to make or stick to plans, so I said to her, “You don’t seem like a ‘P person’?” “Why?” she asked back, “Since when do I need to follow what my personality test tells me to do?” It was then that I realized I’d taken the result too seriously.
The MBTI personality test may show something you don’t know about yourself and can even be a fun ice-breaker question when meeting new friends. And that’s all it is-for fun. Knowing someone’s MBTI result doesn’t mean you really know this person. And those four letters of yours don’t define who you are.
1. What do we know about an “I person”?A.An “I person” may feel lonely. | B.An “I person” can be outgoing. |
C.An “I person” is always selfish. | D.An “I person” is popular online. |
A.Covering. | B.Avoiding. | C.Showing. | D.Criticizing |
A.She didn’t like the “P person” | B.She didn’t like making plans. |
C.She didn’t take MBTI seriously. | D.She didn’t take the personality test. |
A.It’s just for fun. | B.It defines who you are. |
C.It helps match good friends. | D.It can shape your personality |
【推荐3】Remember your first day of school? How did your mum pick out your clothes the day before and how nervous did you feel when entering the classroom? Or what about the first time you rode a bike, with all of the excitement coursing through your veins(静脉)?Some memories stick with us and we can recall them like scenes in a movie. These are known as episodic memories.
A new study published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has shown that certain cells, called time cells, make this type of memory possible. These cells help us form clear memories in chronological (时间顺序的) order. As memories are being formed, these time cells put a stamp on the memories. Later, this stamp helps us recount the exact sequence of events and experiences.
The 27 participants in the study had electrodes placed in their brains. This allowed scientists to measure cell activity in the hippocampus (海马体) and another area involved in the perception of time. The participants were shown sequences of 12 to 15 words on a computer screen in a period of about 30 seconds. Then they were asked to recall the words. During this time, the scientists looked at the activity of different brain cells. They found that specific cells fired signals during each sequence of words. “The time cells that we found are marking out discreet (不显眼的) segments (片段) of time within···this approximately 30-second window,”said Brad Lega, a neurosurgeon at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, US. This proves the possible existence of time cells in the human brain.
Gyorgy Buzsaki, a professor at New York University, said the study is important as it can explain memory problems found in people who suffered damage to their hippocampus. In one experiment, scientists compared the memories of people who had just taken a tour of a college campus. Those without damage to their hippocampus had similar stories. However, those who had suffered damage to this area of the brain were unable to recall the proper sequence of events.
The number of people suffering from memory disorders is increasing significantly. As of Sepetmber 2019, around 50 million people worldwide were suffering from dementia (痴呆), and the number will triple by 2050, according to the World Health Organization. Such studies will help scientists develop better medical interventions for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, the cause of 60 to 70 percent of dementia cases.
1. What does the underlined word “recount” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?A.Decide. |
B.Tell. |
C.Create. |
D.Predict. |
A.Most of the participants could not recall the word sequence. |
B.Participants were required to speak out the words within 30 seconds. |
C.People with damaged hippocampus could also recall the sequence of events. |
D.While the participants were recalling the words, certain brain cells released signals. |
A.How humans’ feeling of time changes over time. |
B.How often brain cells send signals during an event. |
C.How brain cells work to remember sequences of events. |
D.How the brain memorizes events that people have experienced. |
A.Finding the true cause of dementia. |
B.Discovering time cells in creatures. |
C.Finding ways to cure memory disorders. |
D.Deciding the reason for Alzheimer’s disease. |