2. 职称英语
  3. I’ve been driving big trucks for 37 years and I wished to stay on the road un

I’ve been driving big trucks for 37 years and I wished to stay on the road un

游客2025-03-26  71
问题    I’ve been driving big trucks for 37 years and I wished to stay on the road until retirement. Now I’m not so sure. Amazon, Apple, Uber, Ford and Toyota are all investing billions of dollars in driverless vehicles.
   I’m sure about one thing: driverless trucks will be here before driverless cars because that’s where the early money is going to be made. With some of the world’s most aggressive and best capitalized companies racing to be first with a viable driverless vehicle, I don’t give myself very good odds on choosing when to hang up my keys.
   America’s 2 million truckers have long been in popular culture. But self-driving trucks are set to lay waste to one of the country’s most beloved jobs — and the fallout could be huge.
   The only humans left in a modern supply chain are truck drivers. Today’s cutting-edge warehouses buzz with automated forklifts and robots that load and unload trucks while drivers stand around sipping coffee — and getting paychecks and health insurance. That’s the kind of thing that drives corporate finance types crazy. The best option is to eliminate drivers.
   I understand that global industry is constantly being reinvented to reduce inefficiencies. New technologies will not be stopped, because if we don’t do it here, they’ll do it everywhere from Singapore to Shanghai and we’ll be left behind.
   I also understand that human error is responsible for almost all vehicle accidents. About 1.25 million people worldwide are annually killed on roadways, including 40, 000 in the US. When the technology is perfected, those millions of deaths will probably be reduced to a trickle.
   We will soon be extraneous or redundant. That makes us "disposable people". Too bad for us, you might think. We’re on the wrong side of history.
   Maybe so, but guess what? You’re next. When automation starts displacing lawyers, accountants and bankers, then we might see some resistance to the social costs of technology. So long as it’s only truckers and factory workers getting sacked, well, there’s always Walmart, McDonald’s, or food stamps.
   What we want is to work and support our families. We’re citizens and pay our taxes. Who is taking responsibility for the human cost runaway technology is causing? Not the companies reaping enormous benefits. Not fleet owners. Not software engineers. Not governments.
   Technology is leaving millions of citizens impoverished. Even the Economist admits that the US has fallen far short in addressing the problem of displaced workers.
   We can start by accepting that both the private and public sectors have a responsibility to manage the human side of technological disruption. [br] This passage is mainly concerned with______.
选项 A、the rapid development of technology
B、the prospects of auto industry
C、impacts of automation on truckers
D、the dilemma facing motorists
答案 C
解析 本文重点关注的是无人驾驶汽车未来对卡车司机带来的冲击。
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