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Self-driving cars have an undeniable(无可否认的，无可辩驳的) allure(诱惑，有吸引力的东西): Think of all the fun things you could do if you didn't have to keep your eyes on the road! A lot of Americans feel this way(这么认为); about half of us say we'd try a driverless car if we could. But behind the obvious technological challenges of getting these vehicles on the road are an array of(一大批，一系列) scary-sounding legal questions we're going to have to grapple with(努力应对;比起deal with cope with这类“处理，应对”，grapple with更强调问题艰难需要struggle) if we're ever to zip around with our hands off the steering wheel.
The safety and liability(不利条件，责任) implications of automation have come up in other contexts before mainly when it comes to theorizing about armed military drones(载有武器的军用无人飞机). What happens when a drone accidentally shoots a civilian(平民;之前，在讲公共交通的那篇文章里，我们介绍过好多种“死亡率”的说法，战争中的平民伤亡率就叫civilian fatility ratio)? Is the person responsible(需要承担责任的人;responsible是定语后置了，相当于something good一样;这个结构等同于the person who is responsible) the designer of the machine the person who programmed(编程) its software its commander(指挥官，这里指操控无人机的人) or some other individual?
Those questions don't get any less complicated in a peacetime environment(和平年代). In a recent paper Brookings Institution scholar John Villasenor explains that automation isn't even a binary(二进制的;意思是说，自动化早已不是停留在代码和程序的阶段了，早已实体化、进入生活生产领域了) thing: the government already considers some cars as autonomous including vehicles that come with technologies to counteract(抵消，纠正) lane drift(偏离车道) or that maintain a certain distance from the vehicle ahead. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a system that categorizes(分类) cars based on how much automation they have — from zero "no automation" to four "full self-driving automation."
It's hard enough to assign responsibility for(为……归责) a collision involving two human drivers let alone(更不用说) a crash involving a driverless car let alone a car that's only autonomous some of the time. If a driver begins drifting out of his lane but the computer assist fails to kick in(生效，运转) who's to blame?
Villasenor acknowledges these are tricky(复杂的，难以处理的) questions but ones our legal system is mostly equipped to deal with. Whether it's classifying(将……分类) a slip-up(错误，疏忽) as a design defect(设计缺陷) a breach(违反) of warranty negligence(疏忽) or some other mistake — all of which have concrete definitions under the law — we've at least got a vocabulary for talking about errors when they happen.
The trickier challenge is for the manufacturers(制造商) to decide how to teach autonomous vehicles to make "good" decisions. Does a driverless car have an ironclad(确切的，有保障的) obligation to protect its occupants(乘客) even to the point of putting non-passengers at risk? framed that way(这样说来) it sounds like a no-brainer. But when the non-passengers happen to be cyclists(骑行者) or pedestrians(行人) it gets a lot more complicated.
The future also promises to turn car manufacturers into software companies as automated systems will need periodic(定期) upgrades(升级) and programming changes.
Maybe driverless cars will come plastered(醒目地标示) with all sorts of al<x>erts about what could happen if you're not paying attention too.
"Manufacturers tend to err(犯错误) on the side of being very conservative in issuing such warnings" writes Villasenor. "As manufacturers introduce new forms of vehicle automation they will no doubt include copious warnings about the attendant(伴随的，随之而来的) risks."
Or maybe driverless cars might actually suggest when a human should take over for certain stretches of roads it knows to be dangerous — something that could be easily implemented(实施，执行;翻译成“做到”会更通顺) given(鉴于) all the data we collect about car crashes. That way the car manufacturer wouldn't be liable(应受罚的，负有责任的) in the event the driver gets in a fender-bender([口]小车祸，刮蹭事故之流).
The prospect of having to grapple with this legal gray area(灰色地带;英文里确实有这样的用法，和字面翻译一样) — not to mention(更不用说) the thought of putting your life in the hands of a machine — just might be enough to turn you off(turn sb. off 使厌烦) of self-driving cars forever. But the big picture is also important. In light of(考虑到) how many people get injured or killed every year as a result of mistakes they or other humans made behind the wheel self-driving cars could be a huge step up in terms of safety(就安全方面而言). If self-driving cars cause a handful of crashes every year but prevent thousands it might be worth it(第一个it是形式主语，后边的 be worth it是固定用法，意为“值得”).
以上就是前程百利小编为大家带来的托福阅读材料，平时的阅读练习是托福考试阅读备考的重要一环。希望大家利用好每份材料，尽可能多地从中获取知识。预祝大家托福考试取得好成绩。
