美国有线新闻 CNN 电动汽车势头猛 无人驾驶成汽车业发展方向（在线收听）

AZUZ: According to InsideEVs.com, which covers news about electric vehicles and tracks their sales, there was a deep in the average number of electric cars sold in the U.S. between March and April. Still, for the first four months of this year, EV sales have been higher across the board than they were last year. Is that a sign of things to come?

PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNNMONEY SENIOR AUTOMOTIVE REPORTER: For the past 100 years or more, Americans have mostly bought cars, filled them with gasoline, and driven them places.

Get ready for all that to change.

SUBTITLE: The future of driving.

REPORTER: First, electric cars are coming on strong. Batteries are now better and cheaper to make. The Chevrolet Volt and soon the Tesla model 3 both get more than 200 miles of range for under $40,000. They promised to make practical electric cars accessible to the masses.

At the same time, advances in computers, software and sensors are bringing the dream of self-driving cars to reality. Already, many luxury models can largely drive themselves on highways and in stop and go traffic.

That's easy stuff, though. The real challenge is driving on city streets and in suburbs where are there complex intersections and pedestrians.

Companies from both inside and outside the auto industry are working on those problems. Several automakers have promised to put self-driving cars on the road in just a few years. They'll probably show up in fleets at first, think self-driving taxis with a driver at the wheel.

Once cars can drive themselves, car sharing becomes much more attractive. After all, if your car doesn't need you to drive it, why just let it sit in a parking space all day? For that matter, why buy a car at all when you can cheaply ride in one that's just driving around on its own anyway.

With all this going on, it's no wonder automakers and auto industry investors are nervous about which companies will come out on top when the future finally arrives, and it's arriving fast.