BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English: Sharing the road with driverless cars

Episode 260820 / 20 Aug 2026

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核心介绍

项目	内容
节目	6 Minute English
集数	Episode 260820
发布日期	20 Aug 2026
级别	Intermediate (中级)
主持人	Phil, Pippa
时长	约 6 分钟
主题	自动驾驶、人车交互、道路安全

中文简介

本期节目探讨无人驾驶汽车与行人、骑行者如何共享道路。Phil 和 Pippa 讨论自动驾驶车辆如何与人类沟通（眼神接触、挥手、动画显示、灯光环）、文化差异（如韩国禁止闯红灯更利于自动驾驶）、以及首个投入运营无人驾驶出租车的城市（菲尼克斯，2017年）。教授 6 个核心词汇：eye contact、wave、alert、animation、glance、jaywalking。

本周问题

Which was the first city to have fully driverless robotaxis on the streets?
哪个城市首个在街道上拥有完全无人驾驶的机器人出租车？
a) Philadelphia
b) Phoenix ✅
c) San Francisco

答案：Phoenix, Arizona（亚利桑那州菲尼克斯），2017 年成为全球首个在公共道路上无安全员运营自动驾驶出租车的城市。

重点词汇表

单词/短语	英文释义	中文释义	来源语境
(make) eye contact	look directly into someone’s eyes	(进行)眼神接触；目光对视	Phil 描述过马路时与司机对视
wave	raise your hand and move it from side to side as a greeting or to communicate	挥手；招手示意	司机挥手让行人先行
alert	warn someone of potential danger	警示；提醒注意危险	车辆通过动画/灯光警示行人
animation	display of moving images	动画；动态显示	绿色行人动画示意安全过马路
glance	quick and brief look	一瞥；匆匆一看	骑行者只能"匆匆一瞥"车辆
jaywalking	(American English) crossing the road where it is not allowed or without taking care	闯红灯；乱穿马路（美式英语）	韩国禁止闯红灯，利于自动驾驶
driverless / self-driving / autonomous	without a human driver	无人驾驶的；自动驾驶的	核心话题词汇
robotaxi	self-driving taxi	机器人出租车；无人驾驶出租车	同义词
negotiate	communicate to reach agreement	协商；商议通行权	与无人车"协商"谁先行
pedestrian	person walking	行人	道路使用者

课文重点解析

1. 核心话题：人车沟通难题

Stephen Brewster: “If you’re outside a vehicle right now, you can see the driver inside the vehicle, you can wave to them, they can see you, you can make eye contact. But when you come to an autonomous vehicle, there’s no person in the driving seat, so how do you negotiate whether they’re going to go, whether they’re going to let you go?”
斯蒂芬·布鲁斯特教授：“现在你在车外，能看到车里司机，能冲他们挥手、进行眼神交流。但面对自动驾驶车辆，驾驶座没人，你怎么’协商’它是走还是让你先走？”

关键挑战：

✅ 传统沟通：eye contact (眼神接触) + wave (挥手示意)
✅ 无人车缺失人类驾驶员 → 需要替代沟通界面
✅ negotiate (协商通行权) 成为关键动词

2. 技术方案：多模态警示系统

用户群体	适合方案	原因
行人	Animations (动画)	有时间观看动态显示（如绿色行人走动）
跑步者/骑行者	Coloured light rings (彩色灯光环)	速度快，仅能 glance (匆匆一瞥)，类交通灯最有效

Chris Vallance: “What kind of signals worked in terms of alerting pedestrians and runners and cyclists to the intentions of the vehicle?”
克里斯·瓦伦斯：“什么信号能有效警示行人、跑步者、骑行者车辆意图？”

Stephen Brewster: “The animations – they work well for pedestrians, but when it came to runners and cyclists, they have much less time to make their decisions, so if you do a quick glance at a vehicle, you don’t really see the animation.”
布鲁斯特教授：“动画对行人有效，但跑步者/骑行者决策时间极短，匆匆一瞥根本看不清动画。”

3. 文化因素：Jaywalking 与自动驾驶适配性

Ammar Al-Taie: “In South Korea, for example, jaywalking is illegal, whereas in the UK, you know, we tend to jaywalk a lot.”
阿马尔·阿尔-泰伊：“韩国禁止闯红灯，而英国人经常乱穿马路。”

洞察：

✅ Jaywalking = 美式英语，指"非法/不安全横穿马路"
✅ 法规严格、行人守规矩的文化（如韩国） → 自动驾驶更安全、更易部署
✅ 英国拟晚些时候引入无人车 → 真实考验即将到来

批判性思考题

人机交互设计：无人车缺失"眼神接触+挥手"这一人类进化出的协商协议。设计替代方案时，如何平衡普适性（跨文化理解）、即时性（毫秒级反应）、冗余度（多通道备份）？
多模态警示的认知负荷：行人看动画、骑行者看灯环——这种用户分层界面是否会增加认知负荷？如何通过用户测试验证？
文化-技术协同演化：韩国"禁闯红灯"文化使自动驾驶更易落地。技术部署是否会倒逼交通文化变迁（如更严格执法、道路设计标准化）？
责任归属与伦理：“Negotiate whether they’re going to let you go” 暗示车辆拥有"决定权"。当沟通失败导致事故，责任在车企、算法、行人、还是监管者？
词汇扩展 - 交通法规术语：jaywalking, right of way, crosswalk, pedestrian crossing, traffic calming, shared space, vulnerable road users。梳理"共享道路"相关法律词汇体系。

完整对话记录

Transcript

Phil: Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Phil.

Pippa: And I’m Pippa.

Phil: Here at 6 Minute English, we love discussing new tech. One of the most controversial technologies of recent years is driverless cars, also known as self-driving cars, autonomous cars or robotaxis.

Pippa: Many people say they wouldn’t feel safe in a car without a human driver, but there are concerns from other road users too – pedestrians, runners and cyclists. How will driverless cars interact with them? It’s a problem Professor Stephen Brewster, from Glasgow University, has been working on. He explained more to BBC World Service programme Tech Life.

Stephen Brewster: If you’re outside a vehicle right now, you can see the driver inside the vehicle, you can wave to them, they can see you, you can make eye contact. But when you come to an autonomous vehicle, there’s no person in the driving seat, so how do you negotiate whether they’re going to go, whether they’re going to let you go?

Phil: On my walk to work, I need to cross the road. Usually, a driver makes eye contact with me. They look directly into my eyes and then wave me across. To wave means to raise your hand and move it from side to side. It’s a gesture for saying hello, or a way of telling a person to do something.

Pippa: Luckily, Phil, you usually arrive safely at work and as yet there are no driverless cars in London. But, Phil, how would you feel about crossing that road in front of a robotaxi?

Phil: Well, maybe a little bit nervous. I might wait for it to go and go behind it or something.

Pippa: Mmm… yeah, I get that. I think maybe as we get more used to these technologies, we’ll get more used to how to deal with them and when to cross. But in this episode, we investigate the tech helping driverless cars communicate on the roads. We’ll learn some useful new words and phrases, and as usual you’ll find all the vocabulary on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Phil: But first, I have a question for you, Pippa. As you mentioned, we don’t have self-driving cars here in London yet. So, which was the first city to have fully driverless robotaxis on the streets? Was it: a) Philadelphia, b) Phoenix, or c) San Francisco?

Pippa: I’m going to say b) Phoenix because I think it’s quite a car-friendly city.

Phil: OK. Well, we will find out the answer, but at the end of the programme. Because accidents are often caused by not seeing the oncoming danger, Professor Brewster wants to make driverless cars more visible. He discussed his work with BBC Tech Life’s presenter Chris Vallance.

Chris Vallance: What kind of signals worked in terms of alerting pedestrians and runners and cyclists to the intentions of the vehicle?

Stephen Brewster: We tested two things. We tested animations and fixed, coloured light rings. The animations – they work well for pedestrians, but when it came to runners and cyclists, they have much less time to make their decisions, so if you do a quick glance at a vehicle, you don’t really see the animation.

Pippa: It’s important to alert people to driverless cars. To alert somebody means to warn them about a potential danger. Some cars do this with animations – displays of moving images. For example, a green man walking to signal it’s safe to cross.

Phil: Animations alert pedestrians but are not suitable for runners and cyclists, who are travelling too fast to react. They only have time for a glance. A glance at something means a quick look. So, instead Stephen’s team used coloured light rings, similar to traffic lights, to warn cyclists and runners.

Pippa: Culture is another problem. The meaning of body language can change. For example, hand waving can mean ‘please proceed’ in one culture, but ’thank you’ in another.

Phil: Ammar Al-Taie is a researcher at the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea. Here, Ammar tells BBC World Service’s Tech Life why Korean culture is especially suited to self-driving cars.

Ammar Al-Taie: In South Korea, for example, jaywalking is illegal, whereas in the UK, you know, we tend to jaywalk a lot.

Pippa: Jaywalking is an American English word. It means crossing the road at a place where crossing is not allowed or without taking care. Unlike Britain, jaywalking is rare in South Korea, making the country safer for autonomous cars.

Phil: We’ve heard a lot about making driverless cars safer, and with plans to introduce them to London later this year, we’ll soon see how safe they really are.

Pippa: Now, isn’t it time to reveal the answer to your question, Phil?

Phil: I asked you which city was the first to have self-driving cars on the road, and you said it was Phoenix… and that is the correct answer. Phoenix, Arizona, was the first city in the world to have self-driving cars operating on public roads without a human safety driver, and that was in 2017. Let’s recap the vocabulary we’ve learned, starting with eye contact – looking directly into someone’s eyes.

Pippa: To wave at someone is a way of saying hi, by raising your hand and waving it from side to side.

Phil: If you alert someone, you warn them of potential danger.

Pippa: An animation is a display made up of moving images.

Phil: A glance is a quick, brief look at something.

Pippa: And finally, the American English term jaywalking means crossing the road where you’re not supposed to. Once again, our six minutes are up. If you’d like to hear more programmes about technology, you’ll find plenty on our tech topic page, all on our website. And there you’ll also find a quiz and worksheet for this episode. Visit bbclearningenglish.com. We’ll see you again soon, but for now it’s goodbye.

Phil: Goodbye!

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核心话题卡片	🚗🤖🚶‍♂️🚴 图标组合，标题 “Sharing the road with driverless cars” 可点击复制
词汇表	可折叠表格，6 个核心词汇 + 4 个扩展词，悬停显示例句，支持中英切换
Quiz 互动	单选题：“First city with robotaxis?” 选后显示解释（Phoenix 2017）
技术方案对比卡	双栏：Animations (行人) vs Light Rings (骑行者)，配示意图+认知时间对比
文化地图	世界地图标注：Phoenix(首个) / Seoul(禁闯红灯) / London(即将引入) / San Francisco(测试中)
沟通模式演变图	传统：Eye contact + Wave → 无人车：Animation / Light Ring / V2X / App 通知
关键概念图谱	节点：Autonomous Vehicle → Communication Gap → Solutions (Visual/Audio/Haptic) → Cultural/Legal Context
思考题区	可展开的问答卡片，适合教学/自测/讨论区
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