| Car |
March 27, 2017
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| In this society, car makers' competitiveness was greater than before. Because, before people drove. Car owners drove by themselves. Car drivers who were not so good at driving didn't care whether their car had a good ability or not. Even when they had a car accident, for example, hit a traffic light pole, he or she would think, "What a bone head! I might have thought other things. I should have driven more carefully." They didn't think, "What a dull car! This car should have better visibility, so I could have seen the pole!" Or, "This car should have a lower center of gravity, so I could have turned more smoothly." They just thought that it was their own fault. But in the auto-drive cars, there were no human errors anymore, and drivers demanded that their cars had things that they hadn't expected before." Recently, he wasn't in a good mood. His next door neighbor bought a new car. The neighbor's working place was very near to his office and usually they left their house around the same time. One time recently when he was waiting at the traffic light in front of the building of the neighbor's office, the neighbor was walking into his building. He knew that the neighbor's  parking space was a little far from the building, so he began to think that the neighbor's car was faster than his. Then after that one time, the same thing happened more often since the neighbor changed his car. On this day, the same thing happened, and at lunch time, he checked his neighbor's car on the Internet and found that the neighbor's car was cheaper than his. He couldn't understand because almost all cars were auto-drive, so he thought that the more expensive cars were more comfortable and faster. After work he stopped by a friend of his who was a car fanatic, and asked about it. His friend said that it was because of the car's software, which gave priority to safety rather than speed. He asked his friend whether his car's software could be changed. His friend laughed, "It's like a black-box in airplanes, it's impossible to change. But, you don't need to change the software because you can drive your car by yourself. Your car has a manual mode in case of an emergency, although it's rare recently. He retorted, "But, if I drive my car manually, I wouldn't have a reason to have bought this car. This car was more expensive than my old manual car." The friend said, "You don't need to drive the whole course, when you feel irritation about the auto-drive, you can drive yourself." On his way home, he was still in the car with auto-drive mode. He was thinking about his bad experience in the past. Several years ago, he quit driving by himself because auto-drive became in fashion and his wife strongly recommended it saying that it was safer. After purchasing his new car, his time in his car became just relaxing and doing something, checking his smartphone, reading magazines, even eating breakfast when he got up late. After stopping driving by himself, he only once drove the car manually, just for curiosity. At that time he changed the mode to self-drive. It was a disaster. The steering wheel was unstable. At the intersection, he turned right and couldn't enter the lane suitably. He was almost hit by an oncoming car but thanks to the auto driving system of the other car, the other car predicted his car's unskillful driving, and dodged his car just before hitting. He soon returned the mode to auto-driving. After that he didn't have any idea to drive by himself. But this time he had momentum. Next day, he got up early and was sitting on the seat of his car with his hands grabbing the steering wheel. He looked around back and forth again and again and again, and then stepped on the accelerator gradually. The car started to move. He lived in the suburbs. He headed to the seaside. After ten minutes, his driving became smoother. He remembered the feeling of driving. He felt his mind lifting. Now he could look out and relax. It was a strange feeling because the sight looked different from when he was in car auto-driving mode, although he rarely looked outside from his car before. Originally, he liked driving. Before marrying, he and his wife would go to various places and he was the one who drove each time. When he grabbed the steering wheel, he felt relaxed, especially when they started dating. He wondered how young men could manage with their girlfriends without driving themselves, just sitting face to face. On his way back, for him, the 'race' with the neighbor didn't matter anymore. He enjoyed driving and was thinking that the next time he tried driving, he would go with his wife. People in their passing cars realized that he was driving by himself. They were surprised, and a little bit envious. |
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*visibility :E
*center of gravity :dS
*fanatic :}jA
*retort :Ύ’Τ·
*dodge :©ν·