(单词翻译:单击)
Stuck at an intersection, you always watch unfold the Fundamental Problem of Traffic.
被困在十字路口时，你总是会看到交通堵塞的根本问题。
On green, the first car accelerates, and then the next, and then the next, and then the next, and then you, only to catch the red.
绿灯亮起后，第一辆车起步通过，然后是下一辆，下一辆，再下一辆，然后到你了，却偏偏赶上了红灯。
Had the cars accelerated simultaneously you would have made it through.
只有所有车辆同时起步，你才能顺利通过。
Coordination - not cars - is the problem, because we are monkey drivers with slow reaction times and short attention spans.
问题在于协调，而不是车辆数目，因为我们是反应迟钝、注意力不集中的猴子司机。
Even if we tried getting everyone to press the pedal on 3-2-1-now would be challenging.
即使我们试图让每个人都倒数着3，2，1同时踩下油门，也会很有挑战性。
This dis-coordination limits how many cars can get through an intersection and when one backs up to the next, that's when city-sized gridlock cascades happen, taking forever to clear.
这种不协调限制了通过十字路口的车数，当从一个路口堵到下一个，就会发生城市规模的交通堵塞，需要很长时间才能疏通。
In general, more intersections equals more dis-coordination which equals more traffic. This is the motive behind big highways: no intersections.
一般来说，十字路口越多，不协调的情况也越多，也就越容易造成拥堵。这就是为什么我们会建造高速公路而不是十字路口。
Splits and merges, yes. Intersections, no. No stopping, no coordination problems, no traffic. Well that's the theory anyway.
只有岔道和合并，没有交叉路口。无需停车，没有协调问题，没有交通堵塞。但这只是理论上的理想情况。
Intersections outside of a highway will back up onto it. Again, because human reaction times limit how many cars can escape the off-ramp when the light changes.
高速公路外的交叉路口还是会堵到高速公路。还是因为交通灯变色时，人的反应时间限制了可以驶出匝道的车数。
But, even without intersections, there would still be traffic on the highway. Traffic can just appear.
但是，即使没有交叉路口，高速公路上仍然会有交通堵塞。交通堵塞总是会发生。
Take a one lane highway with happy cars flowing until a chicken crosses the road.
假设在一条单车道高速公路上，车流畅通无阻，有一只鸡突然穿过马路。
The driver who sees it brakes a little, the driver behind him doesn't notice immediately and brakes a little harder than necessary,
看到它的司机稍微刹车，后面的司机没有立即注意到，更用力地踩了刹车，
the driver behind him does the same until someone comes to a complete stop and, oh look, cars approaching at highway speeds must now stop as well.
后面的司机也这样做，直到后面的某个司机完全停下来，结果路上接近限速的汽车现在也都得停下来。
Though the chicken is long gone, it left a phantom intersection on the highway.
虽然那只鸡早已不见踪影，但它在高速公路上留下了一个虚幻的路口。
This is what's happened when you're stuck in traffic for hours thinking, "There must be a deadly pile up ahead"
你堵了好几个小时，心里想着“前面肯定发生了致命的连环车祸”，
and then suddenly, the traffic's over with no wreckage in sight, to your relief if you're a good person and mild annoyance if you aren't.
突然，路通了，却看不到任何残骸，如果你是个好人，你会松一口气，如果不是，你会有点恼火。
You just pass through a phantom intersection, the cause of which is long gone. And this phantom intersection moves.
你只是经过了一个虚拟路口，造成这种情况的原因早已消失。而这个虚拟路口移动着。
It's really a traffic snake slithering down the road eating oncoming cars at one end and pooping them out the other.
这就像一条贪吃蛇向车流的反方向移动，从一端吃下迎面而来的汽车然后从另一端把他们拉出。
On a ring road, a single car slowing down will start an Ouroboros of traffic that will last forever, even though there's no problem with the road.
在环路上，一辆车减速会形成一条衔尾蛇，导致永久的交通堵塞，即使道路没有问题。
If the drivers could coordinate to accelerate and separate simultaneously, easy driving would return. But they can't, so traffic eternal.
如果司机可以协调，加速分开，交通就能恢复顺畅。但他们做不到，所以交通堵塞是永恒的。
On highways, traffic snakes grow if cars are eaten faster than excreted, and they shrink if excreted faster than eaten, dying when the last car accelerates away before the next car must stop.
在高速公路上，如果汽车被吞噬的速度比排出的速度快，贪吃蛇就会变长，反之变短，当最后一辆车在后车刹车前加速离开时，贪吃蛇就会消失。
Now, in multi-lane highways, there needs be no chicken to start gridlock.
在多车道高速公路上，即使没有鸡，也会导致交通堵塞。
A driver crossing lanes quickly with cars too close behind is enough to birth a traffic snake that lives for hours and leagues.
如果一位司机快速变换车道，后车离得太近，就会形成一条长达数里的贪吃蛇，要几个小时才能消失。
It's this quick crossing that causes drivers behind to over-brake and begin a chain reaction. But we can make traffic snakes less likely by changing the way we drive.
正是这种快速变道导致后面的司机刹车过猛并引发连锁反应。但我们可以通过改变驾驶方式来减少贪吃蛇的出现。
Your goal as a driver is to stay the same distance from the car ahead as from the car behind at all times. Tailgating is trouble.
司机的目标是始终与前车和后车保持相同的距离。紧跟前车会带来麻烦。
Not just because it makes accidents more likely but because you as the tailgater can start a traffic snake if the driver ahead brakes. Always in the middle!
贴的太近不仅会增加事故发生的可能性，还因为如果前面的司机刹车，你作为紧随其后的司机可能会引发贪吃蛇。始终保持在中间！
This gives you the most time to prevent over-braking but also gives the driver behind you the most time as well.
这让你有最多的时间防止急刹，也给后车最多的时间反应。
And when stuck in traffic, this rule would get all cars to pull apart the snake faster.
被堵在路上时，这条规则会让所有汽车更快消灭贪吃蛇。
That's the simple solution to traffic: getting humans to change their behavior, perhaps by sharing this video to show how and why traffic happens, why tailgaters are trouble, and how we can work together to make the roads better for all.
这就是解决交通堵塞问题的简单方法：让人们改变自己的行为，或许可以通过分享这段视频来展示交通堵塞是如何以及为什么会发生的，为什么贴太近会造成麻烦，以及我们如何共同努力让道路变得更好。
The End. Except, yeah... wishing upon a star that people are better than they are is a terrible solution. Every time.
就是这样。除了……对着星星祈祷人们变得更好是一个糟糕的解决方案。
Instead, what works is a structurally systematized solution which is exactly what self-driving cars are.
相反，有效的是一种结构系统化的解决方案，而这正是自动驾驶汽车所提供的。
Self-driving cars can just be programmed to stay in the middle and accelerate simultaneously. They'll just do it.
自动驾驶汽车可以通过编程保持在中间，和其他车同时加速。这样就可以了。
The more self-driving cars at an intersection, the more efficient the intersection gets. A solid lane of self-driving cars vastly increases throughput. Hmm, actually!
十字路口的自动驾驶汽车越多，十字路口的效率就越高。一条只有自动驾驶汽车的车道会大幅提高车流量。
If you ban humans from the road (which we should totally do anyway) you can get rid of the intersection entirely.
如果人类不再驾驶（反正我们早就应该这样做了），你可以完全摆脱十字路口的影响。
After all, a traffic light is just a tool for drivers on one road to communicate with drivers on another, poorly and coarsely.
毕竟，红绿灯只是一条路上的司机与另一条路上的司机沟通的工具，沟通很低效，也很粗糙。
Red equals "Don't go now, we are coming through the intersection." Green equals "good to go." But self-driving cars can talk to each other at the speed of light.
红色代表“现在不要走，我们正要经过十字路口。”绿色代表“可以走了。”但自动驾驶汽车可以以光速互相交谈。
With that kind of coordination, no traffic light necessary. Just as with the highway, the best intersection is no intersection. Humans will never drive this precisely.
有了这种协调机制，就不需要红绿灯了。就像高速公路一样，最好的路口就是没有路口。人类永远不会如此精确地驾驶。
At the intersection, the fundamental problem with traffic that you watch unfold, as well as everything, is people.
在十字路口，你看到的交通堵塞的根本问题，以及所有问题，原因都在人。
So the real simple solution to traffic: is no more monkeys driving cars.
因此，真正简单的交通堵塞解决方案是：不要让“猴子”驾驶汽车。
