Self-parking automobiles

There was an interesting article in The Economist last week about Volvo’s new feature that allows a car to park itself.

Link to article:
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21580134-autonomous-vehicles-are-arriving-piecemeal-more-and-more-driving-tasks-are

My students are usually interested in anything to do with cars, so the topic would catch their attention. Information about innovation is always useful in lessons, and this article also compares this innovative feature to other car-parking systems. Students can discuss the pros and cons of each one. 

In addition, there are a number of interesting language features. For example: 

• Use of adverbs, including slowly, steadily, recently, completely, easily, conversely, fully, highly, etc. (there are 13 different ones, and 5 are repeated twice)
• Use of comparatives and superlatives
• Conditional clauses
• Linking/transition words
• Relative clauses 
• And many phrases indicating future change, for example: 

• …are just around the corner 
• …car will arrive 
• …five to ten years from commercial deployment 
• That, too, is coming. 
• A number of carmakers are developing… 
• …expects to see…from around 2020.

Exercises focusing on any of these features could be part of the lesson, or given for homework.