Don't be too surprised if you see a car going down the road without a driver in Beijing these days. Last month, Baidu began to test its self-driving cars on open roads in Beijing.
Since then, companies like Tesla, Uber and Baidu have been working to produce and test their own self—driving cars.
Self-driving cars are safer than regular cars. They can remove the stress of driving and allow disabled or blind people to get around more easily.
In one test, researchers pointed a laser pointer (激光棒) at the car's sensors (传感器) while it was moving. The car mistakenly thought that the laser beam was in its way and slowed down or changed the direction.
The software that is used to direct the cars may not be safe enough. When we use our computers or smartphones, they sometimes crash (崩溃) without any reason. But if this happened to a self-driving car, the result could be deadly. Improvements to the software could be a solution to this problem.
| A. At times, it may break down. B. Self-driving cars began to develop in 2010. C. It might be one of Baidu's self-driving cars. D. But self-driving cars have their own problems as well. E. And they are more environmentally friendly than regular cars. |
