福特擬開發完全自動駕駛汽車

Ford will build a totally self-driving car by 2021 as it seeks to take the lead in the global race to produce the world’s first high-volume driverless vehicle.

福特將最遲在2021年打造一款完全自動駕駛的汽車，試圖在量產世界上首款無人駕駛汽車的全球競賽中佔據領先地位。

The car, which will not have a steering wheel or pedals, will be used in the driverless taxi services with which Ford said it expects to dominate the market in the coming decade.

這種車將不會配備方向盤或踏板，它將被用於無人駕駛的出租車服務。福特表示，預計這種服務會在今後10年主導市場。

The company announced a suite of investments in technology groups, including one alongside Chinese search engine Baidu, and a doubling of its operation in Silicon Valley yesterday, to bolster its position in the race to develop the autonomous technology that is expected to revolutionise the motor industry.

該公司宣佈了對多家高科技集團的一系列投資，以增強其在這場競賽中的地位，開發預計會引發汽車業革命的自動化技術。這些投資包括與中國搜索引擎百度(Baidu)聯手投資一家公司，還包括將其硅谷業務擴大一倍。

“There’s a real business rationale for this,” said chief executive Mark Fields. “Vehicle autonomy could have as big an impact on society as the Ford mass assembly line had over 100 years ago.”

福特首席執行官馬克•菲爾茨(Mark Fields)表示：“此舉是出於真切的商業邏輯。汽車自動駕駛對社會的影響，可能會與100多年前福特的大規模流水線一樣大。”

He said the cars will be “specifically designed for commercial” services such as ride-booking or ride-sharing.

他說，首款無人駕駛汽車將“專爲（網約車或拼車等）商業服務設計”。

The move pits Ford directly against Google and Apple as well as rival car manufacturers such as BMW, which has formed a joint partnership with Intel and Mobileye to develop a fully driverless vehicle by 2021.

此舉令福特不僅要和寶馬(BMW)等汽車製造商對手較量，還要與谷歌(Google)和蘋果(Apple)正面競爭。寶馬已和英特爾(Intel)及Mobileye組建合資企業，在2021年以前開發一款完全無人駕駛的汽車。

When it announced the deal last month, the German carmaker said it wanted to become the “number one in autonomous driving”.

上月公佈該協議時，這家德國汽車製造商表示希望成爲“自動駕駛領域的頭號企業”。

But Ford has announced a number of investments it hopes will give it the edge over its rivals. The company has bought Israeli machine learning group SAIPS, as well as investing $75m in laser-based driverless system company Velodyne Lidar and forming an exclusive deal with vision-processing group Nirenberg Neuroscience. The investment in Velodyne was made alongside Baidu.

不過，福特已公佈一系列投資，希望這些投資會令它獲得相對於競爭對手的優勢。該公司已買下以色列機器學習集團SAIPS，並向基於激光的無人駕駛系統公司Velodyne Lidar投資了7500萬美元，還與視覺處理集團Nirenberg Neuroscience達成了獨家協議。其中，對Velodyne Lidar的投資是與百度聯手作出的。

Ford previously invested in Californian mapping group Civil Maps.

此前，福特曾投資加州地圖集團Civil Maps。

A number of carmakers have entered deals with technology companies.

多家汽車製造商已和高科技企業達成協議。

Fiat has done a deal to collaborate with Google to develop autonomous minivans, while Toyota has taken a stake in Uber and Volkswagen has invested in Gett, the taxi-booking service.

菲亞特(Fiat)已敲定協議，與谷歌合作開發自動駕駛麪包車。與此同時，豐田(Toyota)已入股優步(Uber)，大衆(Volkswagen)已投資出租車預訂服務公司Gett。

General Motors earlier this year invested $500m in Lyft, a taxi service.

今年早些時候，通用汽車(General Motors)曾向出租車服務公司Lyft投資5億美元。

The industry believes that driverless cars will result in far fewer road deaths globally. But the interim technology, in which the car hands back control to the driver in some situations, has faced questions over its limitations.

該行業認爲，無人駕駛汽車會大大減少全球的交通事故死亡人數。不過，汽車在某些情形下將控制交還司機的過渡技術，已因其侷限而面臨質疑。

Raj Nair, Ford’s chief technical officer, said Ford had decided to leap to full autonomy “because we have not found a technology that can ensure driver engagement [when not in control]”.

福特首席技術官拉傑•奈爾(Raj Nair)表示，福特決定一步到位實現完全自動駕駛，“因爲我們找不到一種能夠確保司機（在未控制車輛時）保持注意力的技術”。