美國試驗讓無人駕駛汽車用表情包示意

A self-driving start-up in Silicon Valley is exploring emojis as a robotic response to the honks, nods, waves and other signals exchanged between human road users.

硅谷一家自動駕駛初創公司正在探索利用表情符號自動迴應鳴喇叭、點頭、揮手等人類道路使用者之間交換的信號。

is beginning a test near its Mountain View headquarters of autonomous cars fitted with digital signage on their roofs.

公司正在位於山景城(Mountain View)的總部附近對車頂裝有數字顯示屏的自動駕駛汽車進行測試。

The display, which also incorporates an array of cameras and sensors for navigation, can show text and pictures, as well as making sounds, to provide cues to human drivers of the robot’s intentions.

這種顯示屏還包含一組用於導航的攝像頭及傳感器，它能夠顯示文本和圖片，還可以發出聲音，以向人類司機提示無人車的意圖。

If you take the driver out of the equation, how do other human beings communicate with this car? A self-driving car needs to emote intention, understand what the other cars are doing and signal to them what it wants to do, said Carol Reiley, co-founder and president of the year-old company.

這家成立僅一年的公司的聯合創始人、總裁卡蘿爾•賴利(Carol Reiley)表示：如果你的車裏沒有駕駛員，其他人該怎樣與這輛車溝通？自動駕駛汽車需要表達意圖，領會其他車輛正在做什麼並向它們發出信號，告知它想做什麼。

Among the signs being tested are the smiley faces, winks and hand gestures of emoji that have become a popular addition to text messaging and social networking in recent years.

正在被測試的信號包括笑臉、眨眼、手勢等各種表情符號，這些表情包近年來已經成爲短信與社交網絡中很流行的附加符號。

We are anticipating that people’s behaviour will be very different around self-driving cars [compared] to normal cars, she said. We aren’t satisfied with the lights and sounds on a current car.

我們認爲，相對普通汽車，人類駕駛員在自動駕駛汽車周圍時的行爲將大爲不同，她說，我們並不滿足於現有汽車的燈光和聲音。

We need to design a new kind of robot that can communicate safely and interact with people.

我們需要設計一種能夠安全地與人類溝通和互動的新型機器人。

While most robots in use are in factories, cordoned off behind warning notices, Ms Reiley said that a self-driving car would be the first social robot that will be released into the world.

雖然大多數在使用的機器人都位於工廠且被警戒線隔離在警示告示之後，但賴利表示，自動駕駛汽車將成爲首個被投放到真實世界的社交型機器人。

, which has raised $12m from undisclosed investors, was founded last year by Stanford University graduates.

由斯坦福大學(Stanford University)幾名畢業生去年創立的，已從未公開的投資人手中籌集了1200萬美元。

They had been working to apply deep learning, a strand of artificial intelligence research, to driving.

他們一直在致力於將深度學習（人工智能研究的一個分支）應用於駕駛。

In April, became the 13th company to be approved for autonomous testing in California by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles .

今年4月，成爲第13家獲得加州機動車輛管理局(Department of Motor Vehicles)批准進行自動駕駛測試的公司。

While others are focused on highway driving, is targeting more crowded and complex urban environments for its first deployments.

雖然其他一些公司正專注於高速公路駕駛測試，但首批測試的目標是更擁擠、更復雜的城市環境。