沃爾沃擬在中國試驗無人駕駛汽車
Volvo is aiming to put up to 100 self-driving cars on the roads in China in the hope that testing them on the country’s notoriously congested, hazardous roads will enable the carmaker to pull ahead in the race to develop autonomous vehicle technologies.
沃爾沃(Volvo)力求讓多達100輛自動駕駛汽車在中國上路，希望在以擁堵和危險聞名的中國道路上試車將使其跑贏研發無人駕駛技術的競賽。
Pioneered by Google and other tech companies, autonomous driving is becoming one of the most disruptive forces in the auto industry, and carmakers are setting out their positions.
由谷歌(Google)和其他科技公司開拓的無人駕駛，正成爲汽車行業最具顛覆性的力量之一，各家汽車製造商正在闡明自己的定位。
General Motors’ $1bn purchase last month of driverless car start-up Cruise and Tesla’s new sensors-packed Model 3 suggest that companies consider themselves not just in the business of making cars, but of providing “mobility”.
通用汽車(General Motors)上月斥資10億美元收購無人駕駛汽車初創企業Cruise，以及特斯拉(Tesla)最近發佈配備大量傳感器的新款Model 3，都似乎表明企業認爲自己不僅在從事製造汽車的業務，而且也在提供“機動性”。
But getting driverless vehicles on the road faces legal, technical and social challenges. Even BMW, which was one of the first to invest in such technology, has downplayed the chances of seeing unrestricted driverless vehicles in action this decade.
但是，讓無人駕駛汽車上路的努力，面臨着法律、技術和社會層面的種種挑戰。即使是首批投資於這類技術的公司之一寶馬(BMW)，也淡化了在本十年看到無人駕駛汽車不受限制地行駛的機率。
Volvo, the Swedish company now owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, hopes the unique traffic and legislative conditions in China allow it to overcome the challenges ahead of rivals.
沃爾沃如今由中國汽車製造商吉利(Geely)擁有。這家瑞典企業希望，中國獨特的交通和法律條件將讓它比競爭對手更早克服各項挑戰。
Chinese cities will bid for a chance to take part in the experiment, where drivers would use Volvo’s autonomous vehicles for their daily commutes, enabling the carmaker to gather real-world data, Volvo said yesterday.
沃爾沃昨日表示，中國城市將申請參加這場實驗，實驗期間車主將把沃爾沃的無人駕駛汽車用於日常通勤，使這家汽車製造商能夠採集真實世界的數據。
Volvo has not announced a timeframe, but a parallel trial to be run in Gothenburg, Sweden, is scheduled to begin in 2017.
沃爾沃還沒有宣佈時間框架，但在瑞典哥德堡進行的一個平行測試定於2017年啓動。
Industry experts say driverless technology has added value in China, given its uniquely painful combination of extreme pollution and a terrible safety record — more than 200,000 people died in road accidents in China last year.
業內專家表示，無人駕駛技術在中國具有額外價值，因爲中國有着極端污染和可怕安全記錄的獨特痛苦組合；去年中國有逾20萬人死於道路交通事故。
Government support is also important. Patchwork legislation, a potential obstacle for development in Europe and the US, is less of an issue in China, where authorities have the power to put blanket regulations into place across the country.
政府支持也是重要的。各自爲政的法規是歐洲和美國發展無人駕駛的一個潛在障礙，這個問題在中國不那麼嚴重；中國有關部門可以在全國實施統一法規。
Geely and Baidu, the Chinese search engine, have both been lobbying the government to develop such a framework. Volvo said its planned experiment is a call for the government to translate into action its “forthright language” on promises of commitment to autonomous vehicle development.
吉利和中國搜索引擎百度(Baidu)兩家一直在遊說政府制定這樣一個框架。沃爾沃表示，其計劃中的實驗是向政府發出的一個呼籲，敦促政府把承諾發展無人駕駛汽車的“明確措辭”轉化爲行動。
Baidu, which is working with BMW with the goal of getting autonomous vehicles on to China’s roads within three years, has secured local government support in the development of pilot projects in several Chinese cities.
百度正與寶馬合作，目標是在三年內讓無人駕駛汽車開上中國的道路。百度已在中國數個城市爭取到地方政府對試點項目的支持。
Its approach is to put smallish buses on public transport routes, said Kaiser Kuo, director of international communications for Baidu.
百度國際媒體公關總監郭怡廣(Kaiser Kuo)介紹說，該公司的計劃是把小型巴士投入公交車路線。
