题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
河南省鹤壁市2017-2018学年高二下学期英语期末考试试卷
An autonomous vehicle designed for making local commerce deliveries was uncovered by Nuro. The vehicle is about the height of an SW but far narrower than a typical car. The electric car features four outside compartments(暗格)—two on each side -to hold separate deliveries. Each compartment can be tailored to a specific use, such as cooking a pizza or refrigerating a package.
“We can use self-driving technology to deliver anything, anytime, anywhere for basically all local goods and services,” Nuro co-founder Dave Ferguson said. “Consumers used to be okay with two-week paid shipping. It became two-week free delivery, followed by one week, two days, and the same day. Now same-day delivery isn't fast enough for some customers.”
Nuro isn't alone in building robots for local commerce deliveries. Earlier this month, Toyota, a Japanese car company, uncovered a concept vehicle that could be used for package delivery. A handful of startups—including Starship Technologies, Marble and Dispatch—are testing small robots for deliveries on sidewalks.
Nuro's vehicle will likely face legal hurdles. Fully autonomous vehicles without a test diver aren't legal in California today, and many companies have shifted testing o states where regulators are more welcoming of autonomous vehicles, such as Arizona.
Nuro expects to face fewer challenges because it doesn't carry passengers. Nuro's narrow size may also be helpful when navigating streets and avoiding pedestrians. The vehicle isn't equipped with any special features to communicate with pedestrians or other road users. Some companies have tested and patented solutions such as digital screens that signal the car's next move. Ferguson said his team conducted studies and found that such techniques could confuse people. Nuro believes it's better to make sure the car performs predictably, so that human drivers know what to expect from it.
“We feel by creating this new technology that's going to enable this last mile delivery, we're going to be creating new markets and doing things that previously weren't possible,” Ferguson said. “This is not swapping out jobs with robots. It's creating new markets. There will definitely be new employment opportunities.”
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