What a driverless world could look like

The driverless future

 

What if traffic flowed through our streets as smoothly and efficiently as blood flows through our veins? Transportation geek Wanis Kabbaj thinks we can find inspiration in the genius of our biology to design the transit systems of the future. In this forward-thinking talk, preview exciting concepts like modular, detachable buses, flying taxis and networks of suspended magnetic pods that could help make the dream of a dynamic, driverless world into a reality.

Some words

Remedy (n)

Patina (n)

Congestion (n)

Network (n)

vascular system (n)

urban (adj)

vein (n)

expansion (n)

 

laboratory (n)

Before watching: Imagine the world with completely autonomous transport. What does it look like? Draw a picture!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. What is Wanis's strange pleasure?

A) Drinking wine

B) Looking down on cities from above

C) Driving through cities

2. Which cities have a patina of history?  _____________ and ____________

3. What was the remedy for congestion in Paris? ______________________

4. Why are network expansions impossible for many cities (3 reasons)

1.______________

2.______________

3.______________

 

5. What is “the world's most sophisticated transportation laboratory”?  - The ____________ system.

6. What is the difference between our urban systems and our vascular system?

7. Why do we not have traffic jams in our veins?
8. What is the problem with urban trains?

9. What is the solution?

10. What are self-driving cars trying to learn at the moment?

1.How to__________________________

2.How to_________________________

11. “The more _____________ our traffic grid will be, the more ___________  and _______ its movement will feel.”

The driverless future

·  arteries

·  admirably

·  industrious

·  devouring

·  dense

·  commuters

·  absurd

·  clogged

·  boulevards

·  habitat

·  monumental

---

Some people are obsessed with French wines. Others love playing golf or (1) __________ literature.

One of my greatest pleasures in life is, I have to admit, a bit special. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy watching cities from the sky, from an airplane window.

Some cities are calmly (2) __________, like Dusseldorf or Louisville. Others project an energy they can hardly contain, like New York or Hong Kong. And then you have Paris or Istanbul, with their patina full of history.

I see cities as living beings. When I discover them from far above, I like to find those main streets and highways that structure their space—especially at night, when (4) __________ make these (3) __________ glow dramatically red and gold: the city’s vascular system performing its vital function right before your eyes.

But when I’m sitting in my car after an hour and a half of commuting every day, that reality looks very different. Nothing—not public radio, no podcast, not even mindfulness meditation—makes this time worth living.

Isn’t it (5) __________ that we created cars that can reach 130 miles per hour and now drive them at the same speed as 19th-century horse carriages?

In the US alone, we spent 29.6 billion hours commuting in 2014. With that amount of time, ancient Egyptians could have built 26 Pyramids of Giza. We do that in one year. A (6) __________ waste of time, energy and human potential.

For decades, our remedy for congestion was simple: build new roads or enlarge existing ones. And it worked. It worked (7) __________ for Paris, when the city tore down hundreds of historical buildings to create 85 miles of transportation-friendly (8) __________. It still works today in fast-growing emerging cities.

But in more established urban centers, significant network expansions are almost impossible: (9) __________ is just too (10) __________, real estate too expensive and public finances too fragile.

Our city’s vascular system is getting (11) __________. It’s getting sick. And we should pay attention. Our current way of thinking is not working. For transportation to flow, we need a new source of inspiration.

 

 

Synonym-Matching List

A. blocked
B. thickly populated
C. ridiculous
D. steadily hard-working
E. passionately reading
F. channels
G. impressive
H. daily travellers
I. avenues
J. remarkably well
K. surroundings

---

 

The driverless future

 

detachable 

 flowed 

dynamic

geek 

forward-thinking 

biology 

suspended magnetic pods 

genius 

What if traffic 1___________ through our streets as smoothly and efficiently as blood flows through our veins? Transportation 2__________ Wanis Kabbaj thinks we can find inspiration in the 3_________ of our 4_________ to design the transit systems of the future. In this 5___________ talk, preview exciting concepts like modular, 6____________ buses, flying taxis and networks of 7__________ that could help make the dream of a 8__________, driverless world into a reality.

Part 1: Beginnings

1. While our vascular system uses three dimensions inside us,
2. If our surface grid is saturated,
3. Because our network is so extensive,
4. When I’m sitting in my car after an hour and a half of commuting,
5. To create 3-D transportation networks,
6. Wagons can detach dynamically while you’re moving
7. Building a 3-D transportation network
8. Vehicles could drive much faster when all the cars are driverless and connected,

 

Part 2: Endings

A. we now have the dreams, the concepts and the technology.
B. urban transportation is mostly two-dimensional.
C. and become express, driverless buses that move on a secondary road network.
D. is one of the ways we can mitigate and solve traffic jams.
E. let’s elevate our traffic.
F. that reality looks very different.
G. each one of our 37 trillion cells gets oxygen precisely when it needs it.
H. because everything becomes predictable and reaction time is minimal.

---

Part 3: Clause Types (Match each sentence to one type)

I. Clause of contrast
II. Conditional clause
III. Clause of reason
IV. Time clause
V. Clause of purpose
VI. Participle (-ing) clause
VII. Adverbial clause of time
VIII. Cause-and-effect clause