1 . Luo Xinlin, 22, experienced her first ride in a self-driving taxi in Changsha, the capital of China's Hunan Province “I made an appointment soon after setting the starting and ending points in the app,” said Liu. “A safety supervisor contacted me and the taxi arrived in about 10 minutes.”
“The taxi drove very smoothly by itself. and the safety supervisor and technician sitting in the front basically didn't have any manual control of it,” said Liu after a 10-minute-long test ride. “The taxi passed through three or four intersections and it was a safe ride without any unexpected situations.”
The self-driving taxi, named Robotaxi, is operated by Hunan Apollo Intelligent Transportation Co., Ltd. based in Xiangjiang New Area in the city. On April 21, the company announced that a group of 30 self-driving taxis had entered public use in the city and users can hail one for a free ride.
“The in-car touch screen can display barriers and dynamic predictions within the 360-degree field of vision and clearly present the conditions of passing vehicles, intersections and traffic lights,” said Cheng Li, director of the test and vehicle operation department of the company. Cheng added users can learn information such as the vehicle's sped and remaining distance through the screen in real time.
In September 2019, the company launched a trial service for a group of citizens, who had to first complete training and other procedures. The technical personnel have started testing self-driving taxis and accumulated a lot of test data since the second half of last year.
China allowed local governments to arrange road tests for intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs), which cover different degrees of autonomous driving, in April 2018. An increasing number of cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, have issued license plates for road tests of ICVs.
1. What is Liu's attitude to self-driving taxis?A.Mixed. | B.Cautious. | C.Uncertain. | D.Supportive. |
A.It had unchanging routes | B.No one but the passenger was in it. |
C.It allowed passengers to have free use. | D.A safety supervisor controlled it. |
A.Vehicle operation. | B.The vehicle's speed. |
C.Road conditions | D.Remaining distance. |
A.Fashion. | B.Technology | C.Society. | D.Business. |