Semester B 2019/20 - IFP practice reading test

0FHE1043 Intensive English for Academic Study 2

Reading text

21st Century driving

1. After over 100 years together, people’s love affair with the motor car shows no sign of fading. Almost
40 million cars were produced in 35 countries in 2001 alone. After a 9% decline in 2009 due to the
2008 global financial crisis, global car production immediately jumped back up the following year with
a 22% increase in 2010, to then consolidate at the current 3% yearly growth rate. In 2012, for the first
time in history, over 60 million passenger cars were produced in a single year, or 165,000 new cars
produced every day. Cars, trucks and motorbikes have come a long way since first going at walking
speeds, and following the creation of the first modern-style cars in the mid-1880s, much of the early
development focused on making them faster and cheaper. The need for speed continues today, but
mainly in the multi-million dollar world of racing cars. However, with 1.2 million road deaths worldwide
each year, plus a further 50 million injuries, much research is currently focused on safety and
technology, as well as new fuels.

2. Technology is now assisting safer motoring, taking into account possible problems with individual’s
driving. One cutting-edge area of research in motoring safety is the use of digital in-car assistants that
can ensure drivers do not miss crucial road signs. Eventually, GPS-based systems could entirely
replace road signs, but until then, ideas like the new driver assistance system (DAS) developed in
Australia may help. The invention is part of a global effort to make drivers more aware of road signs,
especially those concerned with safety. A new electronic driver's assistant will detect road signs and
warn drivers not to ignore them.

3. The DAS system works by using three cameras: one to scan the road ahead and a pair to monitor
where the driver is looking. The road camera is mounted on the rear view mirror and a "gaze
monitoring" pair are set on either side of the instrument panel on the dashboard. Images from the
cameras are fed to a computer system fitted behind the dashboard. Software detects road signs and
works out where the driver is looking. The speedometer is also connected to the computer, so the
system always knows how fast the car is travelling.

4. Another area to be concerned about is drivers falling asleep at the wheel. According to Britain's
Automobile Association, 1 in 10 deaths on Britain's roads are caused by drivers falling asleep. Spy
cameras mounted in car dashboards could warn drivers when they risk killing other people or
themselves by falling asleep. The system, which uses eye-tracking technology, can also warn
motorists when they are not paying enough attention to the road ahead. The new system, called
Facelab, could help reduce traffic fatalities.

5. The issue of being distracted while driving is another area where technology is being used. Many
accidents have been blamed on the workload that in-car devices can place on drivers. As a result, in
2003 the UK banned the use of hand-held mobile phones by drivers. Portugal and some other
countries have even banned voice-operated hands-free phones. The use of artificial intelligence
software, called SMART is being developed to help drivers cope with the increasing number of
electronic devices in cars. The SMART assistant will monitor the driving and make sure the phone or
radio does not distract the driver at a vital moment. When complete, the assistant will decide when it is
Semester B 2019/20 - IFP practice reading test

0FHE1043 Intensive English for Academic Study 2

too dangerous for a driver to be disturbed, and will divert phone calls to voicemail, block any emails
and lock the controls of the satellite navigation system and CD player.
6. The aspect of future fuels for powering cars is another aspect to be considered. The search for
alternative fuels, driven by dwindling oil reserves and concerns over exhaust emissions, has led
researchers to investigate more sustainable sources such as vegetable oils. Sunflower oil, soybean oil
and even opium poppy oil have all been tested as potential fuels. Jojoba oil is an oil frequently used in
the home, which may prove a viable alternative to diesel fuel for cars and trucks. Jojoba is a desert
shrub that can reach up to 4.5 metres high and typically lives more than 150 years, producing nuts
that yield half their volume in oil. The non-toxic oil is widely used as a non-greasy skin-smoothing
ingredient in cosmetics, and as a base for shampoos and make-up. Early tests show that jojoba-
fuelled engines produce fewer pollutants, run more quietly and for longer, and perform just as well as
diesels. Engineers think the oil has potential as a motor fuel because it releases a great deal of
energy when it burns and is chemically stable at the high temperatures and pressures in a working
engine.

7. In April 2008, Toyota announced that it had sold its millionth Prius, its flagship low-emissions car. The
Prius has a hybrid propulsion system that combines a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine
with a battery-powered electric motor. At up to 25 km/h or so, the Prius runs almost silently on its
electric motor. If you accelerate beyond that, the petrol engine kicks in. Energy from the engine and
energy recovered during braking charges the battery so there is never any need to plug the car into
the mains electricity grid. The Prius uses nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, a tried and tested
battery technology common in portable radios and other gadgets. Demand for the Prius in the US is
so high that the cars gain in value in their first year, as people pay a great deal of money to avoid the
waiting list for a new one, something almost unheard of with mass-market cars. Together with hybrids
from several other manufacturers, these vehicles are making a difference. Toyota calculates that the
cars have already saved 4.5 million tonnes of CO2.

8. However, that is just the start. Over the past decade, engineers have been experimenting with the
design of an even more efficient type of battery. This is the lithium-ion (Li-ion) cell, the kind used in
laptops and mobile phones. The result is lithium-ion batteries that can dramatically outperform NiMH
cells, carrying about twice the energy for the same mass. Li-ion batteries are still expensive, but
according to analysts at the investment bank, Morgan Stanley, a new generation of batteries will help
reduce their price and thus lead to cheaper hybrids and drive worldwide annual demand for the cars to
3 million by 2020.

9. One of the issues connected to electric vehicles is of course the need to charge them. All electric cars
come with a standard charging cable that plugs into the car and, via a domestic plug, into a normal
wall socket. It is the same plug you find on your kettle, TV or phone charger, which means you can
charge at home in your garage or on your driveway if you have an outdoor socket. To speed things up
wherever you live, you can install a home-charging unit at an additional cost, at around £800-£1,000 in
the UK at the moment. There is even government funding available for these. They guarantee safety
and can charge the car around two and a half times faster than even a standard UK socket.

10. In the USA, on-street electric charging points are already being tested, and the Netherlands are also
developing a plan for installing charge points across the country. In the UK, there is a rapidly
expanding UK charging points network, and maps are available to show car-owners where to access
Semester B 2019/20 - IFP practice reading test

0FHE1043 Intensive English for Academic Study 2

the charge points. At the moment, many charge points are free to use, but the model that is likely to
emerge would involve motorists paying an annual subscription fee and then a small charge for the
electricity used. However, as electric vehicle trials demonstrate, 85% of electric motorists charge up at
home and/or at work. So in reality public charge points are more about feeling reassurance that
drivers will not be left stranded without fuel.

11. Hybrid engines are another important area of research. Brazil already makes widespread use of
ethanol derived from sugar cane. Fuel cells based on hydrogen burn cleanly, and are the subject of a
serious research effort. An example of this is that waste from sewage plants could be transformed into
clean hydrogen fuel with high efficiency using new processing technology devised in Europe. The
process involves extracting hydrogen from "wet" waste, in other words, that which contains large
amounts of water, such as sewage or paper mill waste. Although this sort of waste is abundant,
extracting hydrogen has required a large amount of energy, making it inefficient. But researchers at
Warwick University, UK, as well as a number of European companies, claim they have dramatically
improved the efficiency of the process. Battery power may have more immediate potential but
hydrogen cars, by virtue of being able to travel long distances on a single tank, are a viable long-term
solution. Massive investment combined with development of a portfolio of hydrogen and electric
technologies would mean that by 2050 cars could be almost entirely free of reliance on oil.

12. It is almost an impossibility that people would cease to drive cars in the future. For over a century
humankind has constantly been making improvements in terms of styling, speed, and fuel sources,
constantly innovating car design. Advances in technology are also assisting driver safety. So it seems
that the future of the car is secure as there still remains a love affair with these four-wheeled vehicles.

Based on the following texts:

Carrington, D. (4/09/2006) ‘Cars and Motoring.’ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9922-instant-expert-

Conway, G. (July 26, 2011). ‘Is it easy to charge an electric car? Do you need special equipment?’

http://www.thechargingpoint.com/knowledge-hub/hot-topics/hot-topics-charging.html Retrieved 20/3/2014

Giles, J. (17/09/2009) ‘Mean machines go green.’ http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926741.600-