中國車企加大力度研發無人駕駛汽車

With the Beijing Motor Show underway, the days when the country's domestic car firms was brushed off as mere copycats are well and truly over. And a lot of this year's buzz is around driverless cars in particular.

隨着北京國際車展的舉行，中國國產汽車企業只能作爲不入流的模仿者的時代已經一去不復返了。在今年的車展上，無人駕駛汽車尤其成爲了議論的焦點。

In past years, innovation might have come from Silicon valley, but Chinese companies are pushing ahead. "There is a lot more going on in China than many in the West have realized," car expert Prof David Bailey of the Aston Business School tells the BBC.

在以前，技術創新經常是由硅谷的公司帶來的，但是在今年，中國企業走在了前面。阿斯頓商業學院的汽車專家戴維·貝利教授接受BBC採訪時表示：“中國比許多西方國家做的還要多。”

Who are the big players?

那麼都有哪些大型企業在做呢？

Changan: Two driverless cars drove more than 2,000km (1,240 miles) from its headquarters to Beijing using cameras and radar to complete the trip in six days - the car firm says it was able to do research on lane-keeping and changing, traffic sign recognition, automatic cruising and voice control.

長安：兩輛無人駕駛汽車利用攝像機和雷達制導，在長達六天的時間內從長安總部開到了北京，行駛里程超過了2000公里（約合1240英里）。長安公司負責人表示，目前長安公司可以研究如何使無人駕駛汽車保持和變更車道、識別交通信號、自動巡航、以及識別語音信號。

Baidu and BMW: A cooperation between Chinese tech giant Baidu and German car maker BMW saw a driverless car drive 30km through Beijing traffic, managing a range of manoeuvres, including U-turns, lane changes and merging into traffic from ramps.

百度和寶馬：中國科技巨頭百度和德國汽車製造商寶馬開展了一項合作，共同開發無人駕駛汽車。一輛由他們研發的無人駕駛汽車成功地在北京繁忙的交通中行駛了30公里，途中經歷了一系列複雜的交通路況演練，例如U形彎道、變更車道和坡道會車等。

Geely and Volvo: Chinese owned Swedish car maker Volvo says it plans to test 100 driverless cars on public roads in "everyday conditions". It is thought to be a significant move to establish the Sino-Swedish team at the forefront of development. Volvo is also testing driverless cars in Sweden and the UK.

吉利和沃爾沃：中國企業控股的瑞典汽車製造商沃爾沃發表聲明稱，公司將計劃在公共交通的“日常情況”下測試100輛無人駕駛汽車。這一舉措被認爲將是中國吉利和瑞典沃爾沃公司攜手發展過程中非常重要的一步。沃爾沃也將會在瑞典和英國進行無人駕駛汽車測試。

In addition to these main players there are many others vying for attention. Research in China takes place in car companies, tech firms and at universities.

在中國，除了這些大企業之外，還有許多其他的技術開發活動也引起了注意。很多中國的汽車企業、科技公司和大學都在開展無人駕駛汽車技術的研究。

So when will it be normal to have a driverless car pull up next to you at the traffic light? "We are probably still one decade away from that," says Prof Bailey.

那麼，無人駕駛汽車什麼時候才能夠正常投入使用呢？貝利教授說：“我們也許還需要10年。”