2023年牛津上海版英语中考复习语法+阅读 Lesson9讲义

L9 Part 1 Intensive Reading Robotaxis Move Forward but Face Problems In the past few months, fans of self-driving cars have gotten some good news: 'Two self-driving taxi companies have been allowed to expand their work in San Francisco. They’ve also received some bad news, though: A series of accidents has led to new worries about how safe the cars really are. Cruise and Waymo are two companies that make self-driving taxis. These cars are also called “robotaxis.”Both companies have been testing their cars in San Francisco for years. In the past, the robotaxis could only drive in specific (特定的)areas, at certain times. But in early August, Waymo and Cruise were given full permission (许可) to operate their robotaxis in San Francisco. The companies were allowed to run as many driver less cars as they wanted.24 hours a day. And the companies weren’t required to have safety drivers in their cars.That is to say, these self-driving cars didn’t have anyone in the driver ' s seat. They’re programmed(编写程序)to do everything on their own. The move was a big step for self-driving cars. Many people were excited about the change. The new rules also allowed the companies to charge for every ride. In other words, the robotaxis could finally start to make money. But almost immediately, there were problems. A Cruise car hit a fire truck; a person was injured and sent to hospital. Later, a Cruise car stopped working in the middle of an intersection (十字路口). The accident resulted in a traffic jam. After that, California told Cruise to take half of its robotaxis off the roads. For many people, the problems with the self-driving taxis didn’t come as a surprise.According to San Francisco’s fire department(消防部门), since May of 2022,more than 60 robotaxis have interfered with (妨子) firetrucks. Robotaxis have also blocked city buses and other vehicles. Many people believe that self-driving cars aren’t yet ready for the real world. In one recent example, a self-driving car got stuck in (陷入)wet cem