China, which has Four Great Inventions in ancient times, has again showed its ability to change the world with its “new four great inventions”. The four new ways of life are the most popular among young foreigners who study and work in China.

Electronic payment

“My wallet is no longer in use. I can buy and eat whatever I want with a tap of fingertip on my phone.” said Lin Jinlong, a student from Cambodia（柬埔察）in China. “Even pancake sellers are using Alipay mobile payment.”

Online shopping

“I can order food online at home. This is super convenient. If I am at home in Cambodia, I have to go outdoors.” China is innovating（创新）and no longer copying Western ideas. China has the largest mobile phone use in the world. This makes online shopping much easier.

Shared bicycles

Shared bikes bring cycling back to people’s lives and make public transport more popular. The bikes themselves aren’t new, but China has made the world surprised with the operating model（运营模式）of bike-sharing.

High-speed railways

Lin talked about his experience of traveling by Chinese high-speed train from Beijing to Tianjin. The journey takes only half an hour, while in Cambodia, which has only two railways, such a journey may take up to three hours.

Imagine someone who lives in Atlanta needs to travel to Washington, D.C. for business. This is about a 10-hour drive. A flight takes about two hours. Add to that the drive to the airport, checking in and waiting at the gate. After arriving in D.C., it may take another 30 minutes to pick up your luggage and find a car — and even more time to drive to the destination (目的地). The total travel time could be four to five hours. That’s why most people would choose to fly instead of driving themselves.

However, if they could have a driverless car take them there, the choice may be different. Passengers could eat, drink, work and sleep during the 10-hour drive. They could leave whenever they want, and pack whatever they want. When they get to D.C., they don’t have to find a rental car and drive to the place by themselves. And imagine the driverless car even has a bed. So, what would you choose?

As we all know, people love how quickly flights can be but hate the security checks, delays (延迟) and the risk of losing baggage. Most people don’t like to ride in driverless cars at the moment. However, it’s said that as people learn about the advantages of driverless cars, they will become more accepting of the new technology. Over time, people will feel comfortable using self-driving cars.

In our study, we showed people trips of different lengths (长度) and asked them to choose whether they would rather drive themselves, take a flight, or ride in a self-driving car. On short trips, with a five-hour drive, two-thirds of people would rather drive themselves. As trips got longer, people preferred flying, but self-driving cars were still a competing choice. On the longest trips, with a 45-hour drive, only about 10% of the people preferred driving themselves but that changed to one sixth when they had a driverless car.

So, in the future, driverless cars will be popular with people, while the future of aviation (航空) is in danger.

More and more car makers are introducing smart cars that can drive themselves. But as these cars take to the streets, we have to ask: are auto-pilot (自动领航) cars a step into a better future, or are they a step we’re not ready to take?

Not long ago, cars that drive themselves were just a dream. But now, with smart car makers like XPeng, Tesla and Xiaomi, that dream is closer to reality. Supporters of auto-pilotcars say that they can make our roads much safer and make it easier to travel. Most car accidents happen because people make mistakes or get sleepy, but the computers on cars don’t get tired. Many believe that self-driving cars can also help traffic move better and give people more time to do fun things while traveling.

However, even car makers admit that self-driving technology is not perfect—especially with the busy streets, traffic lights, and all other different drivers it has to deal with. People worry about the decisions smart cars would make in uncommon situations. Some think it is easier for human drivers to forget the possible danger in driving. ★ Many drivers still remember the accident in 2021, where a human driver fell asleep behind the wheel and the auto pilot made a wrong decision. What’s more, they are nervous about the personal information these cars might collect.

The discussion about self-driving cars is about technology, safety, and how we’ll live in the future. We’ll keep discussing if they’re good for us. Will self-driving cars become common, or will they remind us to be careful with new technology? We’ll see what the future holds.