Starting on February 8, 2021, an autonomous ( 自动的) bus called Apollo, produced by Baidu, opened to the public at a shopping mall called Shin Kong Place in Chongqing’s Yubei District. The whole journey is about 3 kilometers without stopping. It takes 20 minutes and the full price is 25 yuan(half price during the early beginning).
Apollo, which is 4.4 meters long, 2.2 meters wide and 2.7 meters high, can carry 14 passengers and has a battery life of 100 km. The driverless travel route is set by a small touch screen.
It is China’s first autonomous bus entering a commercial route (商业路线), according to Baidu. Apollo was produced in April 2017 through the hard work of several famous car companies, including Volkswagen, BMW and Ford.
Since more production came out in July, 2018, Apollo has started running in Beijing, Jiangsu, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, with a total operating distance of more than 10,000 kilometers and safe transport (运输) of more than 110,000 people.
In 2018, Baidu passed Chongqing’s automatic driving road test license requirements. So far, it has been one of several Chinese technology companies that have provided autonomous taxi services for the public.
According to a company called McKinsey China will probably become the world’s largest market for autonomous vehicles (车辆). It says that driverless vehicles might make up more than 40 percent of new vehicle sales in the world’s largest car market by 2040.
11. How much did a passenger in Chongqing pay to take Apollo on February 8, 2021?
A.3 yuan. | B.12.5 yuan. | C.20 yuan. | D.30 yuan. |
12. What does the second paragraph tell us?
A.Why Apollo was created. | B.What Apollo will bring people. |
C.Some basic facts about Apollo. | D.How to use Apollo. |
13. Which of the following is the right match?
① in April 2017
a.A bigger number of autonomous buses were produced.
② In July 2018
b.Apollo started to run in Chongqing’s Yubei District.
③ In February 2021
c. Apollo was born with the hard work of many companies.
A.①-a; ②-b; ③-c | B.①-b; ②-c; ③-a | C.①-c; ②-b; ③-a | D.①-c; ②-a; ③-b |
14. Which of the following ideas may McKinsey agree with?
A.The sales of driverless vehicles will be a problem for China. |
B.Driverless vehicles will take the place of vehicles with a driver. |
C.China needs to work Harder to produce better driverless vehicles. |
D.Driverless vehicles will become more popular in China in the future. |
15. What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Autonomous buses hit the road in Chongqing. |
B.Baidu plans to produce more autonomous buses. |
C.Technology companies will provide autonomous driving services. |
D.China has become the world’s largest market for autonomous vehicles. |