Self-driving cars-destination known?
Mr Zhang casually glances at the empty driver's seat and says, "Destination Grand Hotel. Family mode. Start.Hunfamiliar The car responds immediately, easing smoothly into the busy traffic and avoiding obstacles on the road. Inside the car, the family have chosen their entertainment from a pop-up display panel, ready for the journey ahead. This imagined scene provides a likely future reality for self-driving cars, also known as 1.(autonomy) vehicles(AVs).
However, before this evolution in transport becomes a revolution, it must be fully understood how self-driving cars work. Put simply, self-driving cars must "see" and "behave" 2.(appropriate) to be safe on the road. They do this through various hardware and deep-learning AL Cameras as well as sensors like radar and lidar capture a 3.9various) of data from the external environment. Once the data is sent to the AI system, the "brain" of the car, it 4.(analyse) and put together like a puzzle so that the self-driving car can "see" its surroundings and determine its position. Meanwhile, the Al system identifies patterns from t
he data and learns from them. An action plan is then created to instruct the car how to "behave" in real time: stay in the lane, move into another one, speed up or slow down. Next, the necessary mechanical controls, such as the accelerator and brakes, are activated by the AI system, allowing the car to move in line 5.the action plan.
This may sound perfect in theory, but in reality technological barriers in AV development exist. The self-driving car's perception system presents one. Road traffic in the real world is 6    plicated that unfamiliar or unexpected conditions may occur at any time. Since it is 7.(reason) for the database to include every possible object in every possible condition ahead of time, the system might not recognize everything on the road. In one tragic real-life case,a self-driving car*s perception system failed 8.(identity) a white truck against the bright, sunlit sky. It assumed that there was no obstacle in its path and did not activate the brakes, 9.
(cause) the death of the driver in the self-driving car. Accidents like this pose the question of how self-driving cars can better learn and improve their behaviours on the road to ensure safe journeys.
Another aspect that needs careful consideration is the ethical responses 10. self-driving cars would make in specific circumstances. The Trolley Problem is often used to discuss difficult ethical choices they may face. For example, should those in the self-driving car always be protected first even if it means 11. (endanger) the lives of pedestrians? Should a self-driving car hit a single pedestrian to avoid crashing into a group of pedestrians? And would it make a different decision if the pedestrian were a child or a senior citizen? The moral dilemma that comes with how to ethically program self-driving cars has yet to be resolved.
Besides such ethical concerns, the legal situations the AV industry is likely to be confronted 12.have fuelled heated debates. In this 13.(emerge) industry, manufacturing and programming standards are not yet uniform. 14.
, the quality and safety of AV technology is still 15.(challenge) This could lead to extraordinary cases like who should be held responsible when self-driving cars are involved in accidents-should it be the driver, the software programmer or the manufacture
r? Manufacturing and programming standards first have to be agreed upon to make it possible for law courts to decide who is 16. fault when things go wrong. As advances in AV design and technology are in progress, the final agreement on laws and regulations in this industry remains 17.  (see).
There can be little doubt that, 18.all the challenges, self-driving cars will form part of our future. The question is, what is next? Some argue that self-driving cars should be allowed to operate without human control, 19.others are more cautious and believe that human operation, even if 20.(limit), is necessary in successful AV design. Only time will reveal its true path. While the journey ahead is not without obstacles, the eventual destination is bound to be another milestone for humankind's amazing vision and 21.(inventive).
Keys:l. autonomous 2. appropriately 3. variety 4. is analysed 5. with 6. so 7. unreasonable 8. to identify 9. causing 10. That/which/()ll. endangering 12. with 13. emerging 14. Moreover/Furthermore/Besides/Additionally 15. being challenged. 16. at 17. to be seen 18.despite19. while 20. limited21. inventiveness
U3Extended ReadingRacing towards the future: a look at China's high speed rail network
In the distance, a white bullet-nosed train is thundering down the track. It grows larger by the second until it eventually slows and glides past the lines of waiting passengers. As it eases to a stop, its doors open with a hiss and the passengers board with eager anticipation. Then the doors close and the train departs exactly on time, its progress barely noticed as it quickly and silently gathers speed. 1. comfortably in the well-equipped, spacious carriages, the passengers know that their journey ahead will be both 2.(effort) and relaxing.

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