We spend so much of our lives commuting, but with self-driving cars, we could fill that time in unlimited ways. You might finish up work, put on a movie, or—if the car windows are digital displays—enjoy a virtual-reality tour of the French countryside.

我们花了很多时间在通勤的路上，但有了自动驾驶汽车，我们可以用无限的方式填满这段时间。你可以完成工作，放一部电影，或者如果车窗是数字显示器，你可以享受一次法国乡村的虚拟现实之旅。

But before we hand over the keys, we need to test the tech. In June 2018, I started as a "safety driver" at autonomous car company Drive.ai, riding behind the wheel of our passenger shuttles in Frisco, Texas. After driving the vehicle out into the field, I would press a button to engage autonomy. In the event I needed to take over, I didn't want to waste a second getting to the controls, so I would keep a hand on the steering wheel and hover a foot over the pedals, mimicking manual driving. They moved just as they would if I were using them—first-time passengers would peek up at me to see if I was touching anything.

但在我们交出钥匙之前，我们需要测试一下这项技术。2018年6月，我开始在自动汽车公司Drive.ai做"安全司机"，坐在我们德克萨斯州弗里斯科的客运班车后面。把车开到郊外后，我会按一个按钮来启动自动控制。在我需要接手的情况下，我不想浪费一秒钟去控制，所以我会把一只手放在方向盘上，把一只脚放在踏板上，模仿手动驾驶。自动驾驶启动后，车子照常行驶，就像我手动驾驶没什么区别。当我第一次启动自动驾驶的时候，乘客们会抬头看我，看我是否碰了什么东西。

Riders also expressed surprise at how cautious the AI is. In fact, the most common reason I'd have to take over was when other human drivers became impatient—for example, while they waited for the self-driving vehicle to at rush hour. In these instances, we will disengage autonomy and go into human mode as a courtesy to the other drivers on the road.

骑手们也对人工智能的谨慎表示惊讶。事实上，我不得不接手的最常见的原因是当其他人类司机变得不耐烦时，例如，当他们等待自动驾驶车辆在高峰时间缓慢地穿过多条车道时。在这些情况下，我们将脱离自主，进入人类驾驶模式，以示对道路上其他驾驶员的尊重。

People climb into the shuttle with all kinds of wild expectations, but after their first ride—or sometimes even halfway through—they realize it's really just another bus ride. Then they usually go back to their activities. In most cases, that means they get buried in their cellphones.

人们往往怀抱各种各样的好奇心踏进自动驾驶班车，但在第一次乘坐之后，有时甚至在中途，他们就意识到这真的只是另一次乘坐公共汽车的寻常之旅罢了。然后他们通常会回到他们的日常活动中去。在大多数情况下，这意味着他们埋头在手机里。

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