每日译文-Will robot cars drive traffic congestion off a cliff?

Will robot cars drive traffic congestion off a cliff?

驾驶机器人汽车会使交通拥堵变得更为严重吗？

Self-driving cars are expected to usher in a new era of mobility, safety and convenience. Transportation researchers say the problem is that people will use them too much. Experts foresee robot cars chauffeuring children to school, dance class and baseball practice.

自驾车将在移动性，安全性，和便利性方面迎来一个新的时代。运输研究员说将来人们使用自动驾驶汽车过多将会带来问题。专家预测自动驾驶汽车会作为司机送孩子去上学，去舞蹈班，和棒球训练场。

The disabled and elderly will also have new mobility and people may stay home more because they can send their cars to do things like pick up groceries they’ve ordered online. Researchers believe the number of miles driven will skyrocket, which may mean a corresponding surge in traffic congestion.

残障人士和老人将会获得新的行动方式而其他人们留在家里的将会更多，因为他们可以让他们的车去做一些事情，比如去取他们在网上买的东西。研究者相信驾驶里程数将会飙升，而这也意味着更严重的交通堵塞问题。

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You are talking about a technology that promises to make travel safer, cheaper, more convenient. And when you do that, you’d better expect people are going to do more of it.

Don MacKenzie, a University of Washington transportation researcher

你正在讨论一个让驾驶变得更为安全，便宜，及便利的技术。当你这样做的时候，最好明白人们将会为它做的更多。

Don MacKenzie 华盛顿大学交通研究学者

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It’s possible that congestion will be reduced because driverless cars and trucks are safer and can travel faster with reduced space between them. Highway lanes can be narrower because vehicles won’t need as much margin for error and there will be fewer accidents to tie up traffic. But those advantages will be limited as long as driverless cars share roads with conventional cars, which is likely to be the case for decades.

交通拥堵也有可能缓解，因为无人驾驶汽车和卡车会更安全，也可以跑的更快，并减少两车之间的距离，公路可以做的更窄，因为汽车不需要太多的间距来避免错误,也会减少汽车事故的发生。但是这些优点将会被限制只要无人还是汽车还在和常规汽车共用道路，这种情况将会持续几十年。

 This scenario depends on a societal shift from private vehicle ownership to commercial fleets of driverless cars that can be quickly summoned with a phone app. To make the shared-vehicle model work, government would have to impose congestion pricing on highways and take other measures to discourage people from traveling alone in their self-driving cars.

这个方案依赖于社会的转变从私人自驾车到使用商业无人驾驶汽车船队，通过一个手机app快速的呼叫一个汽车。为了实现共享汽车模式，政府不得不征收拥堵费在公路上并通过其他方式限制人们通过自驾汽车的方式独自旅行。

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