{"id":693,"date":"2026-10-20T17:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/lesson-plans\/robotaxi-race-b1\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T17:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:00:19","slug":"robotaxi-race-b1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/lesson-plans\/robotaxi-race-b1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Robotaxi Race: Waymo vs Tesla vs Uber (B1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Driverless taxis are now a daily reality in several American cities, and three very different companies are racing to lead the market: Waymo, Tesla and Uber. This lesson compares their strategies, explains the big technical debate between lidar and cameras, and gets students talking about trust, technology and the future of jobs. This B1 version explains the race and the technology in clear, simple language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Level:<\/strong> B1 \u00b7 <strong>Time:<\/strong> 45 to 90 minutes. Pick the activities that suit your class. They work in almost any order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lesson Activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"\/reveal\/picquiz.php?w=288d5085\">Warmer: What&#8217;s Missing?<\/a> &#8211; Reveal the picture tile by tile. Where is this? What can students see? What is missing? (It&#8217;s the inside of Tesla&#8217;s Cybercab, which has no steering wheel and no pedals.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/categorise\/activity.php?w=eb17887d\">Prediction: Waymo, Tesla or Uber?<\/a> &#8211; Students sort 15 facts into the three companies (lidar or cameras only, no steering wheel, the app for every robotaxi&#8230;), then check after reading.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/sentence\/match.php?w=4d5392d9\">Vocabulary: Pre-teach the Key Words<\/a> &#8211; Match 10 words from the text to their meanings before reading (control, leader, behind, sensor, measure, enough, trust&#8230;).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reading: The Robotaxi Race &#8211; A graded text with 12 gaps. Choose <a href=\"\/cloze\/exercise_hint.php?w=9834a46d\">with a word bank<\/a> or <a href=\"\/cloze\/exercise.php?w=9834a46d\">without a word bank<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/cards\/cardset.php?w=f9358d6a\">Discussion: Robotaxis and You<\/a> &#8211; 10 conversation questions about riding without a driver, lidar or cameras, taxi drivers and robots.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/ranking\/exercise.php?w=2838023a\">Speaking: Ranking<\/a> &#8211; What would make you trust a robotaxi? Students rank nine options, from a good safety record and lidar sensors to a steering wheel someone could use, then compare with a partner.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Teacher Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For a shorter lesson, use the warmer, the reading and the discussion cards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Language focus: comparatives and superlatives (bigger, cheaper, safer, the leader). Students compare the three companies and the two technologies: &#8220;Lidar is more expensive than cameras, but&#8230;&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Business English classes: compare the three strategies (technology leader, low-cost challenger, platform) with companies in the students&#8217; own industry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Follow-up: a debate or role play. Should robotaxis be allowed in your city? Roles: a taxi driver, a robotaxi company, a city mayor and a passenger.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teaching a stronger group? Try the <a href=\"\/hub\/lesson-plans\/robotaxi-race-b2\/\">B2 version of this lesson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driverless taxis are now a daily reality in several American cities, and three very different companies are racing to lead the market: Waymo, Tesla and Uber. This lesson compares their strategies, explains the big technical debate between lidar and cameras, and gets students talking about trust, technology and the future of jobs. This B1 version &#8230; <a title=\"The Robotaxi Race: Waymo vs Tesla vs Uber (B1)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/lesson-plans\/robotaxi-race-b1\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Robotaxi Race: Waymo vs Tesla vs Uber (B1)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":593,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-693","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/693\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnhip.com\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}