World News for Students of English

08-08-2022 07:00

Fully automated self-driving cars are no longer the imagination of the distant future. Thanks to companies like Waymo, cars are already driving around in some cities.

Since 2016, the American autonomous car producer has been testing its self-driving cars on the streets of Arizona, US. The company’s mission is to make it safe and easy for people to use the cars, and it believes that AV technology can improve road safety. In the US, the fatality rate in car accidents increased over the last few years, and human error is a majority cause.

Waymo has autonomously driven over 32 million kilometers on public roads and over 30 billion kilometers in simulation, and according to data, its cars were involved only in minor collisions. The company believes that the data is evidence of the safety benefits of autonomous vehicles, and it’s the first company to provide a commercial ride hailing service.

Difficult words: human error (a person’s mistake rather than a machine failure), minor (less serious or important), hail (to signal to stop a car, usually a taxi).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.