driverless car elementary

8/10/2019 Driverless Car Elementary

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NEWS LESSONS / Google introduces its driverless car / Elementary • P H O T O

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S I T E© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2014

Google introduces its driverless car

Level 1 l Elementary

Warmer 1

Write as many forms of transport as you can into the circle.

Car

b. How do you usually travel to these places?

• work or college

• the cinema or a restaurant

• the supermarket or market

• other shops

• a holiday destination


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Key words2

Match the key words to the denitions below. The paragraph numbers will help you.

1. to ofcially showed something that had been a secret ________________________ (para 1)

2. without a driver ________________________ (para 1)

3. in order to be prepared for something that may happen ________________________ (para 2)

4. to stop the action of a machine and take control of it ________________________ (para 2)

5. the rst forms of something new, made to test it ________________________ (para 3)

6. soft light plastic with many very small holes ________________________ (para 5)

foam driverless in case

alarm license pedestrians

override prototypes unveil

process real time replace

7. people who are walking, especially in a town or city, not driving ________________________ (para 5)

8. to organize information in a computer ________________________ (para 7)

9. If a computer can understand information in ________________________, it can understand the information

as soon as it gets it. (para 7)

10. to give other companies permission to do something in exchange for money ________________________

(para 9)

11. to do a job that someone else used to do ________________________ (para 10)

12. to make someone frightened or worried that something unpleasant or dangerous might happen

________________________ (para 10)



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Google claims driverless car could

transform mobility and improve safety

Charles Arthur, technology editor

28 May, 2014

1 A car with a maximum speed of 25 miles per

hour, two seats and no pedals or steering wheel

does not sound very interesting. But Google, in

the US, shocked the car and taxi industries when

it unveiled the latest version of its driverless car.

2 Google has begun testing the electric car at its

headquarters in Mountain View, California. The

car does not have all the normal car controls,

such as foot pedals. Instead, it has a smartphone

app that calls it and tells it the destination, and a

STOP button between the two seats in case the

passengers need to override the computer.

3 The company is building about 100 prototypes

for a two-year test. The company’s co-founder,

Sergey Brin, said that the vehicle was still just

a prototype. He says that they want to change

the world for people who do not nd it easy totravel around.

4 Talking about the car, he said, “You’re just sitting

there; no steering wheel, no pedals. For me,

it was very relaxing. About ten seconds after

getting into the car, I forgot I was there. I found it

really fun.”

5 Google says that the aim of the project is to

improve safety. They say that the car is made

with foam at the front and a plastic windscreen,

so “it should be far safer than any other car

for pedestrians”.

6 The cars have been built specially by a company

in Detroit. Google will now test the cars, which

are not yet for sale.

7 There need to be detailed scans of the roads

before the cars can drive on them, because they

cannot collect and process enough information in

real time.

8 So far, there are detailed maps of about 2,000

miles of California’s roads, but California has

more than 170,000 miles of roads.

9 Google says it wants to license the technology

to traditional car makers when they have

improved it.

10 But the idea that driverless cars will replace taxis

with human drivers has alarmed some people.

11 Dennis Conyon from the UK National Taxi

Association said that taxi drivers willbecome unemployed.

12 London has about 22,000 black taxis and Conyon

thinks that the total number of people who drive

taxis in the UK is about 100,000.

13 Other car makers, including Volvo, Ford and

Mercedes, are going to make vehicles that will be

different from Google’s version because they will

have driver controls.

14 But Chris Urmson, director of the driverless car

project at Google, said that the new prototypes

do not have a steering wheel or brakes because

a human passenger might not be able to take

control in an emergency. He said that it was

simpler just to have an emergency stop button.

15 Urmson said: “The vehicles will be very basic.

But they will take you where you want to go at

the push of a button. And, that’s an important

step towards improving road safety and helping

millions of people travel around more easily.”

16 So far, the Google versions of the driverless cars

have driven 700,000 miles without an accident

caused by the computer. The company says that

thousands of people die each year on the roads

and that about 80% of crashes are caused by

human mistakes.

© Guardian News and Media 2014

First published in The Guardian, 28/05/14



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a. Label the diagram with the car parts mentioned in the article.

b. Can you label any other parts of the car?

Parts of a car 4

Comprehension check3

Are these sentences about the article true (T) or false (F)? Correct the sentences that are false.

1. The driverless cars were built by Google in California.

2. The cars cannot go faster than 25 miles per hour.

3. Twenty-ve test vehicles have been built.

4. Google wants to test the cars for ten years before selling licences to car makers.

5. Only one person can sit in each car.

6. Google’s driverless car does not have any pedals or a steering wheel.

7. The windscreen is made of foam.

8. The cars’ computers can process information about roads in real time.

9. There are detailed maps of all the roads in California.

10. Google says the car’s emergency stop button is safer than controls.

2. ______________________________

1. _____________________________

3. _____________________ 4. _____________________



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• Do you think we will all travel in driverless vehicles one day?

• If not, why not?

• Would you prefer a car with a single stop button or one with a steering wheel and brakes that you

could use if necessary?

• Are there any driverless vehicles (not only cars) already?

Watch the video and answer the questions.

www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/may/28/google-self-driving-car-spin-video

Describe the car. Use some words from Task 4.

Now you have seen the prototype driverless car, would you like to travel in it? Do you think it is safe?

Discussion6

Webquest7

Choose the best words in italics to complete the sentences about using a car where you live.

Driving in your town5

Most people / Few people have a car.

There are lots of / not many trafc jams.

There are lots of / few parking spaces in my town.

Parking in the town centre is cheap / expensive.

Most drivers like to drive fast / carefully.

Most / Few cars have navigation systems.When you go into town, it is best to go by car / public transport.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/may/28/google-self-driving-car-spin-video

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/may/28/google-self-driving-car-spin-video



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KEY

1 Warmer

Possible answers: car, train, bus, bicycle, ferry,

boat, plane, taxi, motorbike, tuk tuk, rickshaw, walking

2 Key words

1. unveil

2. driverless3. in case4. override5. prototypes6. foam7. pedestrians8. process9. real time10. license12. replace13. alarm

3 Comprehension check

1. F – The driverless cars were built by a company in

Detroit.

2. T

3. F – 100 test vehicles have been built.

4. F – Google wants to test the cars for two years

before selling licences to car makers.5. F – The cars can take two passengers.

6. T

7. F – The windscreen is made of plastic.

8. F – The cars’ computers are not able to process

information about roads and the surroundings in

real time.

9. F – There are detailed maps of only about 2,000

miles of roads in California.

10. T

4 Parts of a car

1. windscreen

2. steering wheel

3. brake/(foot) pedals

4. seat

Teacher’s note: Find the names of car parts at

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/

british/External-parts-of-cars-and-other-road-vehicles.

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/External-parts-of-cars-and-other-road-vehicles




driverless car elementary

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