资料：GoogleandUberhavegrabbedmostoftheattentionregardingtheadventofself-drivingcars,butonSunday,Lyftthrewdowntheultimatechallenge:AmajorityofautonomousvehiclesforLyftwithinamerefiveyears. TheboldclaimwasmadebyLyftco-founderJohnZimmerinapostonMediumoutlininghiscompany'svisionforthenextdecade. "WithinfiveyearsafullyautonomousfleetofcarswillprovidethemajorityofLyftridesacrossthecountry,"saidZimmer,indicatingthatearlyversionsofsuchcarshavebeeninoperationinSanFranciscoandPhoenix. Usuallywhentechfounderslayouttheirvision,it’stypicaltoheargrandclaimsthatalmostpushtheboundariesofbelievability.That'swhattechinnovationisabout.Butinthecaseofself-drivingcars,thesituationisabitmorecomplicated. Uberhasalreadybegunrollingoutself-drivingcartestsinPittsburghandGoogleishardatworkonthesamekindofsolutionontheWestCoast.Therefore,talkofgettingself-drivingcarsontheroadis,atthispoint,lessaboutthetechnologyandmoreaboutlogistics.WeknowGooglehasenoughcashtotripledownonanyinitiativeitdecidestotackle.Andasthecurrentride-sharingleaderintheU.S.,Uberhasenoughmarketshare-poweredcredibilitythatafutureincludingself-drivingUbercarsisn'tunrealistic. Todaytherearesomeinternet-basedridesharingsystembuttoovercomethecriticalmassthesystemhastobereal-time,automatedandextremelyeasytouse. HoweverinthecaseofLyft,whichcontinuestostruggleagainstUber(onereportclaimsthatUberhasover80percentmarketshareintheU.S.),suchashorttimelinetowardrollingoutafleetofself-drivingcarsseemssomewhatambitious.Nevertheless,Zimmercontinueshisvisionessaywithevenmoreboldpredictions. "By2025,privatecarownershipwillallbutendinmajorU.S.cities,"saysZimmer,apredictionthat,ifitturnsouttobetrue,wouldmeanitwouldtakejusteightyearsforthemajorityofthehuman-drivencarsonU.S.roadstodisappear.Possible?Sure.Likely?Eightyearsseemslike,onceagain,abitofwishfulthinkingonZimmer'spart. Remember,ithasn'tevenbeen10yearssincethearrivaloftheiPhone,andasrecenteventsprove,smartphonesarestillacategorythatcanyieldcatastrophicresultsifnotdoneright.Andthosearejustmobiledevices,notvehiclesentrustedwithtransportingandprotectinghumanlives. Tobefair,Zimmer'sessaydoesoffersomefactsandfiguresinanattempttobackuphispositions,butmuchofitdoesn'tappeartotakeintoaccountvariablessuchastheheavilyembeddedinterestsofautomobilecompaniesstillrelyingonconsumerautosales,aswellasthemanylegalandroadwaylogisticsthatwillneedtobeaddressedinordertobringaboutthismassivetransformationinsuchashorttime. Oddly,Zimmer'svisiondoeslittletoaddressthemillionsofhumanjobsthatwillbelostonceself-drivingcarsdisplacenotonlytaxidrivers,buttruckdrivers. "Webelievethatinthefirstfiveormoreyearsfollowingtheintroductionofautonomousvehicles,theneedforhumandriverswillactuallyincrease,notdecrease,"writesZimmer."Whenautonomouscarscanonlysolveaportionofthosetrips,moreLyftdriverswillbeneededtoprovideservicetothegrowingmarketofformercarowners,"writesZimmer. Butwhataboutafterfiveyears,whenautonomouscarscanprovidefullservice?Whataboutthehumandrivers?Thepushbackfromhumandriverslosingworkwilllikelybeanother,majorrippleintheevolutionofself-drivingcars,aswellasotherautomatedsystemsenteringU.S.societyincomingyears. However,noneoftheselogisticalissuesdiminishZimmer'sideas.Hisvisionofthefutureofautonomousvehiclesseemsquitelogicalandinstepwithmostwhoworkinandwatchthespaceclosely.Butthespeedbumpinacceptinghisvisionwholesaleishisambitiousself-drivingcartimelineingeneral,andforLyftinparticular.
A.Mr.Zimmer’s idea is that now we are at the critical moment in history, we should take decisive action whether taking the right path or not. B.Mr Zimmer thinks the introduction of the autonomous vehicles will not cause the unemployment and surely will increase the employment because such car drivers will be needed to provide service. C.The author has argued that although there are still some problems in Mr. Zimmer’s predication but the general direction of realizing self-driving cars will be correct. D.Mr.Zimmer provides some variable factors such as companies profits and leagal procedure problems in order to realize the massive transformation of self-driving cars in such a short of time.正确答案B
