The Driverless Car

Sebastian Thrun helped build Google's amazing driverless car, powered by a very personal quest to save lives and reduce traffic accidents. Jawdropping video shows the DARPA Challenge-winning car motoring through busy city traffic with no one behind the wheel, and dramatic test drive footage from TED2011 demonstrates how fast the thing can really go.

Watch:

The Driverless Car




True or false? 

1. As a boy, Sebastian was afraid of cars.  

2. Sebastian has not achieved his dream yet. 

3. Sebastian’s team was the first to attempt to make a car that could navigate a desert. 

4. Sebastian's cars navigate without sensors. 

5. There doesn't need to be a human being “in the loop”. 

6. Sebastian's friend Harold is coming back soon 

7. Driving accidents are main cause of death for young people. 

8. Most accidents are caused by people making mistakes.  

9. Driverless cars could cause worse traffic jams. 

10. Driverless cars could help us regain a lot of time. 

11. Sebastian is looking forward to a future without cars at all.  

Tapescript cloze

As a boy, I loved cars. When I turned 18, I lost my best friend ___ a car accident. Like this. And then I decided I'd dedicate my life to saving one million people every year. Now I haven't succeeded, so this is just a progress report, but I'm here to tell you a little bit about self-driving cars.  

I saw the concept first in the DARPA Grand Challenges _____ the U.S. government issued a prize to build a self-driving car that could navigate a desert. And even though a hundred teams were there, these cars went nowhere. So we decided at Stanford to build a different self-driving car. We built the hardware and the software. We made it learn from us, and we ____ it free in the desert. And the unimaginable happened: it became the first car to ____ return from a DARPA Grand Challenge, winning Stanford 2 million dollars. ____ I still hadn't saved a single life.  

Since, our work has focused on building driving cars that can drive ________ by themselves -- any street in California. We've driven 140,000 miles. Our cars have sensors by _____ they magically can see everything around them and make decisions about every ______ of driving. It's the perfect driving mechanism. We've driven in cities, like in San Francisco here. We've driven from San Francisco to Los Angeles on Highway 1.  

We've encountered joggers, busy highways, toll booths, and this is ________ a person in the loop; the car just drives itself. In fact, while we drove 140,000 miles, people didn't _____ notice. Mountain roads, day and night, and even crooked Lombard Street in San Francisco. Sometimes our cars get so crazy, they even ___ little stunts.  

Now I can't get my friend Harold back to life, but I ____ do something for all the people who died. Do you know that driving accidents are the number one cause of death for young people? And do you realize that almost all of those are ____ to human error and not machine error, and can _________ be prevented by machines?  

Do you realize that we could change the capacity of highways by a factor of two or three if we didn't rely on human precision on staying in the lane - improve body position and therefore drive a little bit closer together on a little bit narrower lanes, and do _____ with all traffic jams on highways? Do you realize that you, TED users, spend an average of 52 minutes per day in traffic, wasting your time on your daily commute? You could ______ this time. This is four billion hours wasted in this country ______. And it's 2.4 billion gallons of gasoline wasted.  

Now I think there's a vision here, a new technology, and I'm really looking forward to a time when generations _____ us look back at us and say how ridiculous it was that humans were driving cars.  

Grammar:

Read this carefully. 

What mistakes in verb tenses can you find?

As a boy, I loved cars. When I turned 18, I lost my best friend to a car accident. Like this. And then I decided I dedicated my life to saving one million people every year. Now I didn't succeed, so this is just a progress report, but I'm here to tell you a little bit about self-driving cars.  

I have seen the concept first in the DARPA Grand Challenges where the U.S. government issued a prize to build a self-driving car that could navigate a desert. And even though a hundred teams were there, these cars have gone nowhere. So we have decided at Stanford to build a different self-driving car. We have been building the hardware and the software. We have made it learn from us, and we have set it free in the desert. And the unimaginable has happened: it has become the first car to ever return from a DARPA Grand Challenge, winning Stanford 2 million dollars. Yet I still haven't saved a single life.  

Since, our work focused on building driving cars that could drive anywhere by themselves -- any street in California. We drove 140,000 miles. Our cars have sensors by which they magically can see everything around them and make decisions about every aspect of driving. It's the perfect driving mechanism. We drove in cities, like in San Francisco here. We drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles on Highway 1.  

We encountered joggers, busy highways, toll booths, and this is without a person in the loop; the car just drives itself. In fact, while we drove 140,000 miles, people haven't even noticed. Mountain roads, day and night, and even crooked Lombard Street in San Francisco. Sometimes our cars get so crazy, they even do little stunts.  

Can you explain why the verb tenses are not appropriate or wrong? 

Paul and Fabian's writing

 

This is a Swiss advert from Lindt, which featured Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer. The ad marketed the small 'Lindore Chugle' chocolate balls as a delightful treat.

 

In the video, you see Roger Federer going through an airport security check. But when his bag was scanned, there were some suspicious balls visible in the scan. So the two airport security women opened the bag and found a bunch of Lindt chocolate balls. The women proceeded to eat a chocolate ball and commanded Roger Federer to turn around for them. While eating the chocolate, they talked about how good he looked and that he had to be working out a lot. Which Federer didn't seem to enjoy so much, but still did it.

 

The ad is probably only so popular because Roger Federer is in it. Because Switzerland is absolutely obsessed with him. Also, everybody knows how good the Lind chocolate balls are, so they can understand how the women must have felt.

 

This advertisement perfectly sums up the Swiss obesession with chocolate and Roger Federer.

This is a Swiss advert from Lindt, which features Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer. The ad markets the small 'Lindore Chugle' chocolate balls as a delicious treat.

 

The ad is probably only so popular simply because Roger Federer is in it. Federer is a national hero in Switzerland and also a sex symbol. Switzerland is absolutely obsessed with him. In the video, you see Federer going through an airport security check. But when his bag was scanned, there are some 'suspicious' balls visible in the scan. The two airport security women open the bag and find a bunch of Lindt chocolate balls. The women proceeded to eat a chocolate ball and commanded Roger Federer to turn around for them. While eating the chocolate, they talk about how good he looks and that he has to be working out a lot. Federer doesn't seem to enjoy this so much, but still complies.

 

The ad is probably only so popular because Roger Federer is in it. Because Switzerland is absolutely obsessed with him. Also,

 

This advertisement satirically sums up two Swiss institutions / obsessions: chocolate and Roger Federer. Everybody knows how good both are.

This is an ad well-known by most people in Switzerland. It promotes one of our most famous cheeses called Appenzeller. 

The video starts with a scene were a women is standing in the midst of a beautiful valley. She’s wearing a white dress and heavy make-up, which is similar to a 90s style make up. Then she starts do shake her hips and sings happy birhtday for three mans that we just get to see in the next clip. They are wearing tradition clothing from the appenzeller region and they all look grumpy at the dancing women. They dont move and eyelid. The women continues to dance infront of them and then silently asks them if they might share there secret recipe for there famous cheese. Out of the blue another women appears. Shes aswell dressed traditional and i the same line she also is holding a traditional instrumen called Alphorn.  The women louldy blows in the insturment and a loud volume is coming out. The women in white stops to dance and looks disapointed and sad at the same time because she couldnt convience them to hendel the recipe. The ad finished with a display of the cheese set up on a wooden plate with bread, grapes and cut cheese. 

 

I think the place of the location is clever choosen, because it covers the typical stereo typs of the swiss nature. So when you are watching the ad youre already thinking about Switzerland. The traditionel clothing should aswell touch peoples heard. Furthermore the ad is ajared to a movie scene with Marilyn Monroe. So i think the target group of people are probably older people that saw this movie and might feel a nostalgic moment after seeing a women that looks similar to Marilyn Monroe. Because there is a women dancing infront of the 3 mans, it might refer that aswell women like cheese. I think like that, because the women is really desprite to get that recipe. The 3 man simbolises the cheesemakers. There grompy look is telling you that they wont lose a word and the fingergesture they are doing underlines that. 

 

I think the ad is clever made and is targeting a specific kind of people. With its shots and ideas im sure they will succeed. They try to give you a strong swiss vibe so you feel conected to the traditional cheese. 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQxcQy5zn8c 

This is an ad well-known by most people in Switzerland. It promotes one of our most famous cheeses called Appenzeller. 

The video starts with a scene where aseductive, Marilyn Monroe-esque woman is standing in the midst of a beautiful valley. She’s wearing a white dress and heavy make-up.As she shakes her hips and sings Happy Birthday in a suggestive, sexy way. Three very stern Swiss country men, in traditional dress (from the Appenzeller region) look on at the dancing woman, unmoved. In fact, they don't move and eyelid. The women continues to dance in front of them and then quietly asks them if they might share their secret recipe for their famous cheese. Now another woman appears. She,like the men, is dressed traditionallyand she also holds a traditional instrument called anAlphorn.  The women loudly blows in the horn producing a deafening blast of sound. There grumpy looks on the mens' faces is telling you that they won't saya word and the finger gesture they do underlines their defiance. The women in white stops dancing and looks disappointed and sad at the same time because she hasn't been able to convince the stern farmers to hand overl the secret cheese recipe.The ad finishes with a display of the cheese set up on a wooden plate with bread, grapes and cut cheese. 

 

The choice of the location is a clever one because it evokes the stereotypes of the Swiss nature and tradition.So as you watch you're already thinking about Switzerland. The traditional clothing, while obviously cliche, still touches peoples' hearts. Furthermore, the ad is alluding to a famous movie scene where Marilyn Monroe's dress isblown from underneath by the wind from a subway vent. In a way, this cliche of American cinema represents the opposite of traditional Swiss values, so that the brand of the cheese is highlighted by contrast. 

Perhaps the target market is an older group of Swiss people who know this movie and might feel a nostalgic for both things at once. 

 

I think the ad is cleverly made and is targeting a specific, quite knowing, group of people who are sensitive to the pleasures and pitfalls of 'tradition'. The ad conveys astrong Swiss vibe in an orinic way andthus connects a modern audience with a traditional product.