沃尔沃拟在中国试验无人驾驶汽车

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.

沃尔沃(Volvo)力求让多达100辆自动驾驶汽车在中国上路，希望在以拥堵和危险闻名的中国道路上试车将使其跑赢研发无人驾驶技术的竞赛。

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)和其他科技公司开拓的无人驾驶，正成为汽车行业最具颠覆性的力量之一，各家汽车制造商正在阐明自己的定位。

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”.

通用汽车(General Motors)上月斥资10亿美元收购无人驾驶汽车初创企业Cruise，以及特斯拉(Tesla)最近发布配备大量传感器的新款Model 3，都似乎表明企业认为自己不仅在从事制造汽车的业务，而且也在提供“机动性”。

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，让无人驾驶汽车上路的努力，面临着法律、技术和社会层面的种种挑战。即使是首批投资于这类技术的公司之一宝马(BMW)，也淡化了在本十年看到无人驾驶汽车不受限制地行驶的几率。

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.

沃尔沃如今由中国汽车制造商吉利(Geely)拥有。这家瑞典企业希望，中国独特的交通和法律条件将让它比竞争对手更早克服各项挑战。

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.

沃尔沃昨日表示，中国城市将申请参加这场实验，实验期间车主将把沃尔沃的无人驾驶汽车用于日常通勤，使这家汽车制造商能够采集真实世界的数据。

Volvo has not announced a timeframe, but a parallel trial to be run in Gothenburg, Sweden, is scheduled to begin in 2017.

沃尔沃还没有宣布时间框架，但在瑞典哥德堡进行的一个平行测试定于2017年启动。

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.

业内专家表示，无人驾驶技术在中国具有额外价值，因为中国有着极端污染和可怕安全记录的独特痛苦组合；去年中国有逾20万人死于道路交通事故。

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。各自为政的法规是欧洲和美国发展无人驾驶的一个潜在障碍，这个问题在中国不那么严重；中国有关部门可以在全国实施统一法规。

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.

吉利和中国搜索引擎百度(Baidu)两家一直在游说政府制定这样一个框架。沃尔沃表示，其计划中的实验是向政府发出的一个呼吁，敦促政府把承诺发展无人驾驶汽车的“明确措辞”转化为行动。

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.

百度正与宝马合作，目标是在三年内让无人驾驶汽车开上中国的道路。百度已在中国数个城市争取到地方政府对试点项目的支持。

Its approach is to put smallish buses on public transport routes, said Kaiser Kuo, director of international communications for Baidu.

百度国际媒体公关总监郭怡广(Kaiser Kuo)介绍说，该公司的计划是把小型巴士投入公交车路线。