full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Wanis Kabbaj: What a driverless world could look like

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now ... as if walking in a city buzzing with drones, flying taxis, modular buses and suspended mtegniac pods was not exotic enough, I think there is another force in action that will make urban traffic mesmerizing. If you think about it, the cnuerrt generation of driverless cars is just trying to earn its way into a traffic grid made by and for humans. They're trying to learn traffic rules, which is relatively smplie, and coping with human unpredictability, which is more challenging.

But what would happen when whole cities become driverless? Would we need traffic lights? Would we need laens? How about speed limits? Red blood cells are not flowing in lanes. They never stop at red lights. In the first driverless cities, you would have no red lgthis and no lanes. And when all the cars are driverless and connected, everything is predictable and reaction time, minimum. They can drive much fsaetr and can take any rational iivainttie that can seped them up or the cars around them. So instead of rgiid traffic rules, flow will be regulated by a mesh of dynamic and contsntlay self-improving algorithms. The result: a strange traffic that mixes the fast and stoomh rigor of gaermn autobahns and the civretae vitality of the intersections of Mumbai.

Open Cloze


Now ... as if walking in a city buzzing with drones, flying taxis, modular buses and suspended ________ pods was not exotic enough, I think there is another force in action that will make urban traffic mesmerizing. If you think about it, the _______ generation of driverless cars is just trying to earn its way into a traffic grid made by and for humans. They're trying to learn traffic rules, which is relatively ______, and coping with human unpredictability, which is more challenging.

But what would happen when whole cities become driverless? Would we need traffic lights? Would we need _____? How about speed limits? Red blood cells are not flowing in lanes. They never stop at red lights. In the first driverless cities, you would have no red ______ and no lanes. And when all the cars are driverless and connected, everything is predictable and reaction time, minimum. They can drive much ______ and can take any rational __________ that can _____ them up or the cars around them. So instead of _____ traffic rules, flow will be regulated by a mesh of dynamic and __________ self-improving algorithms. The result: a strange traffic that mixes the fast and ______ rigor of ______ autobahns and the ________ vitality of the intersections of Mumbai.

Solution


  1. rigid
  2. faster
  3. speed
  4. smooth
  5. lanes
  6. magnetic
  7. constantly
  8. initiative
  9. german
  10. simple
  11. current
  12. creative
  13. lights

Original Text


Now ... as if walking in a city buzzing with drones, flying taxis, modular buses and suspended magnetic pods was not exotic enough, I think there is another force in action that will make urban traffic mesmerizing. If you think about it, the current generation of driverless cars is just trying to earn its way into a traffic grid made by and for humans. They're trying to learn traffic rules, which is relatively simple, and coping with human unpredictability, which is more challenging.

But what would happen when whole cities become driverless? Would we need traffic lights? Would we need lanes? How about speed limits? Red blood cells are not flowing in lanes. They never stop at red lights. In the first driverless cities, you would have no red lights and no lanes. And when all the cars are driverless and connected, everything is predictable and reaction time, minimum. They can drive much faster and can take any rational initiative that can speed them up or the cars around them. So instead of rigid traffic rules, flow will be regulated by a mesh of dynamic and constantly self-improving algorithms. The result: a strange traffic that mixes the fast and smooth rigor of German autobahns and the creative vitality of the intersections of Mumbai.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
vascular system 5
red blood 4
blood cells 4
traffic jams 3
blood vessels 2
suspended magnetic 2
magnetic pods 2
urban traffic 2
traffic grid 2
red lights 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
red blood cells 4
suspended magnetic pods 2

Important Words


  1. action
  2. algorithms
  3. autobahns
  4. blood
  5. buses
  6. buzzing
  7. cars
  8. cells
  9. challenging
  10. cities
  11. city
  12. connected
  13. constantly
  14. coping
  15. creative
  16. current
  17. drive
  18. driverless
  19. drones
  20. dynamic
  21. earn
  22. exotic
  23. fast
  24. faster
  25. flow
  26. flowing
  27. flying
  28. force
  29. generation
  30. german
  31. grid
  32. happen
  33. human
  34. humans
  35. initiative
  36. intersections
  37. lanes
  38. learn
  39. lights
  40. limits
  41. magnetic
  42. mesh
  43. mesmerizing
  44. minimum
  45. mixes
  46. modular
  47. mumbai
  48. pods
  49. predictable
  50. rational
  51. reaction
  52. red
  53. regulated
  54. rigid
  55. rigor
  56. rules
  57. simple
  58. smooth
  59. speed
  60. stop
  61. strange
  62. suspended
  63. taxis
  64. time
  65. traffic
  66. unpredictability
  67. urban
  68. vitality
  69. walking