Shadowing Practice: Why High Tech Cars Might Age Like Smartphones - Learn English Speaking with Video
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57 sentences
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1
Tesla, Rivian, lucid and many rising Chinese car brands all share something in common their vehicles are built around software.
2
The advantage that Tesla has in software and in data is unparalleled compared to peers.
3
That gives companies the power to fix problems remotely and add features that can make an old car feel new. And those who build these cars say nothing can compete with that.
4
This is absolutely probably one of the biggest inflection points in the history of automotive, which I deeply believe that it will completely redefine brands loyalty for the future in North America and beyond.
5
But these vehicles are complex.
6
Repairing them requires new tools, skills, and access to data, and some in the industry feel software defined vehicles will age more like smartphones than fine classics.
7
We're already seeing problems with hardware not being able to deal with new software.
8
We honestly don't know how long these these vehicles will last.
9
CNBC talked to key figures in the industry to see what they have to say about how long a software driven car can run on the road.
10
A software defined vehicle is really a vehicle which is no longer stale in time.
11
It's a vehicle which continues to improve over time through over-the-air updates.
12
Automakers have been adding computers to cars for decades, but historically they've been simple and scattered throughout the vehicle. Companies like Tesla and Rivian streamlined a lot of that hardware and connected it all through software, which in turn can be updated over the air.
13
This opens up a lot of new possibilities.
14
When Consumer Reports refused to recommend the Tesla Model three because the car performed poorly in braking tests, Tesla said it could adjust the brakes through a software update, and it did, securing the recommendation.
15
Rivian is used updates to add new drive modes, improve ride quality, and introduce an AI assistant, among other things.
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We're able to update the entire brain of the car.
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Legacy automakers are also beginning to take this approach.
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As you pull up to your house and the software updates on its own over the air, we're going to see that more and more and rely less and less on the regular maintenance of going to the mechanic.
19
But that software, the brain of the vehicle, as Ben said, calls it, needs to be maintained.
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And some wonder how long companies can afford to do that for any given car.
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Then there is the hardware challenge.
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It needs to be capable of handling software updates over the course of several years.
23
The average age of a vehicle on US roads is nearly 13 years, a record.
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Many last much longer than that.
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The life cycles of devices like smartphones pose the question of how long vehicle hardware can handle these updates.
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There's going to be functions that you can't get updated because the hardware.
27
The rest of the hardware on the vehicle just doesn't support it. And it's not necessarily economically viable to update all that hardware.
28
In Tesla's case, this appears to have happened despite expectations.
29
Tesla said in 2016 that every vehicle then being produced had the hardware needed for full self-driving, and Musk reaffirmed in 2019 that Tesla's Hardware three computer would support it.
30
But by 2026.
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Unfortunately, hardware three.
32
I wish it were otherwise, but hardware three simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD.
33
Tesla said qualifying customers could receive either a hardware upgrade or a discounted trade in.
34
Nevertheless, companies are trying to build in space for potential upgrades.
35
We like to set a duration in time, which is we will continue to improving the car through new features from 7 to 10 years.
36
We model that based on the average ownership duration in the United States, but it's really important to note that post this period, the car will be fully functional and if there is any security safety update which is necessary.
37
We as a brand are fully committed to continue those updates. It will just be a non software defined car in the sense that it will not keep improving over time through new features.
38
Your vehicle will stay fully functional, fully safe, whatever the duration of the ownership is.
39
And for many owners that might be good enough.
40
Just keep the car running.
41
Not getting updates is not the end of the world.
42
The car in my garage is 36 years old now.
43
It was not updatable from the time it was built.
44
You know, it's never it's never had an update and it still runs great.
45
But even a vehicle not receiving software upgrades will still have to be maintained and fixed.
46
Rivian doesn't have a dealership network, but it has service centers, a mobile service fleet, and certified third party shops, a collection of independent repair shops, aftermarket suppliers, customers and others want to go further.
47
The right to repair movement has spread across an array of industries including electronics, farm equipment and automotive.
48
Broadly, it's the idea that people should be able to repair the things they own or seek out mechanics or technicians of their choice.
49
So-called right to repair laws are spreading.
50
This is actually a topic which is really dear to to my heart, one of the upcoming updates that we will have is actually to unblock what we call the service menu within the car and really allow our owners to perform more actions, uh, in line with the right to repair regulations.
51
But then we want to go even above and beyond that and really allow that possibility for owners within the car to perform a full diagnostic check using our AI assistant, using the on screen menus, and then perform some of the basic repairs.
52
When those vehicles become classics, how are they going to be maintained? And will there be this undercurrent of of tech bros who decide our job is going to be to fix a Fisker and make sure it continues to run going forward so that classic cars still remain a thing beyond 1930s Duesenbergs.
53
That's going to be the hard part is the potential for somebody to come up with a an AutoZone of software.
54
After support ends for a particular software platform. It's not unreasonable to have an expectation that the manufacturers should release that software so that if somebody wants to continue to update it, wants to make changes to it, they can do that. I think that would go a long way to addressing some of the concerns that people have.
55
I'm more optimistic than I used to be.
56
There are Toyota pickups that have run for a million miles. Software defined vehicles may beat their more analog rivals on many metrics.
57
Time will tell if they can beat them on this one.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why High Tech Cars Might Age Like Smartphones”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: vehicle, software, update, hardware, Tesla. This video has 57 sentences and 1139 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:08. The speaker talks at a natural 160 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| duration noun | /dʒʊˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ | An amount of time or a particular time interval. |
| automaker noun | A person or company that manufactures automobiles; usually used to refer to a large corporation such as General Motors, Toyota, and so on. | |
| mechanic noun | /mɪˈkænɪk/ | Someone who builds or repairs machinery, a technician; now specifically, someone who works with and repairs the mechanical parts of a motor vehicle, aircraft… |
| automotive adjective | /ˌɔtəˈmoʊtɪv/ | Having the ability to move by itself; self-propelled or self-propelling. |
| brake noun | /bɹeɪk/ | A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or… |
| expectation noun | /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/ | The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen. |
| smartphone noun | /ˈsmɑɹtfoʊn/ | A mobile phone with more advanced features and greater computing capacity than a feature phone. |
| aftermarket noun | The market for further goods and services, such as replacement parts and accessories, subsequent to the sale of a product such as an automobile or computer. | |
| certify verb | /ˈsɜː.tɪ.faɪ/ | To attest to (a fact) as the truth. |
| dealership noun | /ˈdiːləʃɪp/ | A place that sells items, especially cars. |
| inflection noun | /ɪnˈflɛkʃən/ | The linguistic phenomenon of morphological variation, whereby terms take a number of distinct forms in order to express different grammatical features. |
| reaffirm verb | /ɹiːəˈfɜːm/ | To affirm again. |
| redefine verb | To define again or differently. | |
| scatter verb | /ˈskætɚ/ | To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse. |
| streamline verb | /ˈstriːmlaɪn/ | To design and construct the contours of a vehicle etc. so as to offer the least resistance to its flow through a fluid. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| going forward adverb | In the immediate future and beyond. |
| open up verb | To open. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are built · is unparalleled · can be updated |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | those who build · vehicle which is · time, which is |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | they've been · has spread · have run |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 9 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, doesn't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: duration /dʒʊˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, dealership /ˈdiːləʃɪp/, inflection /ɪnˈflɛkʃən/, technician /tɛkˈnɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: automotive /ˌɔtəˈmoʊtɪv/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/, undercurrent /ˈʌndɚˌkʌɹənt/, unreasonable /ʌnˈɹiːz.(ə)nə.bl̩/, economically /ˌiː.kəˈnɒm.ɪ.kli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like duration, automaker, mechanic.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.