The Future of Cars and Traffic

Listen to me read this post


Today is our last day on the topic of driving so I thought it would be interesting to watch this video on the future of cars and traffic.  The speaker is Bill Ford.  He is the Great Grandson of a famous American, Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company.  Henry Ford invented the Model T automobile and revolutionized the way cars were made in America.  He thought cars should be available to everyone and not just the rich so he developed ways of making cars using assembly lines so that many cars could be made quickly and affordably. 

We can see he was successful because now many people in the US (and around the world) drive cars and today we are dealing with the problems caused by all those cars such as pollution and traffic jams. 

So, That is what Bill Ford is talking about in this speech - the future of cars and traffic.  He says we need more than just smart cars such as electric cars that don't pollute, but we also need smart traffic systems - cars that can communicate with each other and tell you when there is a traffic jam ahead, cars that can find parking spaces for you so you don't waste gas driving around, etc. He says this is important because traffic jams have a big impact on our lives and  effect things like food being delivered to stores and how long it takes to drive from your work to your home.  As more people move to the cities and more people around the world use cars, then the more we need to improve traffic systems. 

Here in Hanoi many people ride motorbikes and already we see many traffic jams and problems with parking.  Now imagine if all of those people bought cars. Where would they all go? It's something to think about. 

This video is fromwww.ted.com.  It has many features that will help you practice English.  First, of course, is you will be listening to a native English speaker.  Second, there is a English transcript for you to read. third, you can turn on the subtitles either in English or 24 other languages including Vietnamese. 
And finally the transcript can also be translated into other langauges.  You can read the transcript in your native language first so you will understand what the speech is about.  Then watch the video in English and you will understand more of the English.  

So, now let's watch the video...