自动驾驶路漫漫，你敢坐吗?[E550]

Self-Driving Cars Probably Won't Boost Commuter Productivity

By Erika Beras

Advocates for self-driving cars love to tout[1] the benefits the cars would bring, such as fewer accidents and less congestion[拥堵;塞车]. Another alleged value of being a passenger rather than a driver is more productivity—you could work rather than concentrate on driving. But most people might not spend their newfound free time in self-driving cars whittling down[2] their to-do lists.

That’s according to a study by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at The University of Michigan’s Sustainable Worldwide Transportation program. [Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle, Would Self-Driving Vehicles Increase Occupant Productivity?]

The researchers surveyed people in the U.S., Australia, China, India, Japan and the U.K. And about 62 percent of respondents said self-driving cars would not make them more productive. For one thing, 23 percent of the group said they won’t ride in a self-driving car in the first place. And then there are the people who get motion sickness[晕车]—they obviously can’t work. Plus, another 36 percent said they’d be too concerned to do anything but watch the road.

The researchers also noted that most trips average 19 minutes—not really long enough to get anything truly substantial done. Or to catch some quality zzzzz’s[3].

Of course, the level of apprehension[忧虑,担心,恐惧] people experience in self-driving cars, or about getting into them, may change in the long-run. But this study is another reminder that there’s still a lot to be figured out before automatic autos rule the roadways.

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[1]tout [taʊt]

to advertise, talk about, or praise something or someone repeatedly, especially as a way of encouraging people to like, accept, or buy something （尤指为了提高销售额、知名度或推动发展）给…做广告，宣传，赞扬，吹捧

The minister has been touting these ideas for some time.

作为教育部长，一段时间以来她一直在宣传这些理念。

He is being widely touted as the next leader of the party.

到处都在宣传他是下任社会民主党领袖。

[2]whittle sth down：to gradually reduce the size of something or the number of people in a group 使缩小；使（人数）减少

We had 80 applicants for the job, but we've whittled them down to six.

这个职位我们有80位申请者，我们已经将其筛减到了6位。

[3]catch some Z's即为：睡觉；打呼噜。等同于get some sleep

注:Z's是Z的复数形式，一般说来，字母、介词、形容词、副词等很少用复数形式，但是，在某些情况下，它们也会使用复数，其复数形式一般是在后边加’s

There are two t's in the word "letter".

在letter这个单词中有两个t。

We used many happy's in yesterday speech.

在昨天的演讲中，我们多次使用happy这个词。

[4]本文选自Scientific American的60-Second Science，原文链接:http://t.cn/RIGhcDu，查看完整合集点击下方“阅读原文”或后台回复：60s

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