试驾奔驰次世代自动驾驶汽车

    当一辆梅塞德斯奔驰公司出品的自动驾驶汽车载着我和其他几个乘客绕着一座废弃的空军机场疾驰时，我的心里还是直打鼓。没有人在盯着路况。

    一台电脑灵活地操纵着汽车行驶上平坦的环道上。我猜想，如果有另一辆车斜插到我们前面的话，它大概会自动减速停车。事实上，这条路已经被封闭了。但我还是觉得很紧张，尤其是当这辆奔驰的司机和我一起，干了一件坐在普通汽车时根本无法想象的事——我们把座椅转了个方向，面向车尾。

    我还是禁不住偶尔回头望望，观察一下前面的路况。

    欢迎来到未来——至少在奔驰公司和它充满未来气质的技术团队看来，这样一辆颇具科幻色彩的汽车应该代表了2030年的汽车应有的样子。这款汽车的驾驶舱非常豪华，配备了各种触摸屏，以及一台永不疲倦的自动驾驶仪。

    奔驰试图通过这款汽车来显示，该公司拥有在未来取得成功所需的技术实力。除了奔驰之外，奥迪、日产、福特等老牌汽车厂商，乃至谷歌和特斯拉等新进者，都在全力开发新一代的自动驾驶汽车，有些车型甚至与传统车辆有着完全不同的设计。

    本周二，奔驰公司邀请20余名记者试乘电动版原型车F 015。今年早些时候，奔驰已经在拉斯维加斯CES消费电子展上公开了它的外观设计。但到目前为止，能够有幸乘坐这款车型的外人仍屈指可数。当然，这款车型具有令人难以置信的圆润和金属感，这些显然都是科幻作品中不可缺少的汽车设计元素。车身瘦长，再加上长度异乎寻常的轴距，为车子内部营造了更大的乘坐空间。

    负责设计制造这款车型的奔驰工程师彼得•莱曼启动了本次试驾活动。他通过一个智能手机应用将车子从附近一座模拟车库中“召唤”出来——这个假车库是为本次活动而在前阿拉梅达海军航空兵基地（位于旧金山湾区对面）专门搭建的。当我们凑上前去时，汽车中传来一个女性声音：“请您继续走。”这表示，此时继续从车头前方穿行是安全的。

    通过传感器，车子探测到了我们的存在，然后缓缓地自动打开了四扇门。很快我就坐进了奢华舒适的白色皮革座椅中，它的设计让我想起了飞机的头等舱。（看来钱在未来应该不是个问题——至少奔驰公司是这样想的。）

    随着雷曼坐进“引导员”的座位，我在精神上已经做好了试乘准备。结果会不会变得很尴尬？我甚至做好了可能撞车的准备。不过他们此前肯定已经严格地测试过这套系统了，对吧？

    I felt a bit uneasy as a Mercedes-Benz self-driving car chauffeured me and my fellow passengers around an abandoned military airfield. No one was watching the road.

    A computer ably steered the car around in gentle loops and, presumably, would have stopped if another car careened in our path. (In fact, the tarmac was closed to traffic.) But I felt unnerved, particularly after the Mercedes “driver” and I did what would be unthinkable in a normal car: We swiveled our seats to face backwards.

    I couldn’t help myself from occasionally looking over my shoulder to check what lay ahead.

    Welcome to the future, at least as envisioned by Mercedes and its team of futurists who have built a sci-fi car that is intended to reflect what driving will be like in 2030. What they came up with was a plush cabin filled with touch screens and an autopilot who never tires.

    Mercedes is trying to show that it has the tech know-how to succeed in the future. Rival automakers like Audi, Nissan, and Ford, along with interlopers like Google and Tesla, are all pushing the envelope as they experiment with a new generation of vehicles that operate autonomously and, in some cases, have radically different designs.

    On Tuesday, Mercedes invited a couple dozen other journalists to ride in its electric prototype, the F 015. The German automaker had premiered the design at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, but had yet to let more than a just handful of outsiders hitch a ride. The car, of course, is impossibly sleek and metallic, an apparent requirement for visionary car designs. The body is elongated with the wheels spaced unusually far apart to allow for more room inside the cabin.

    The ride started with Peter Lehmann, the Mercedes engineer who helped create the car, tapping a smartphone app to summon the vehicle from a pseudo-garage nearby that was built for the occasion at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, located across the bay from San Francisco. The car woke from its nap and made a slow arc to where we were waiting. As we approached, a female’s voice rang out from the car to say “Please go ahead,” a signal that it was safe to pass in front.

    Using sensors, the car had detected that we were nearby and automatically started slowly opening the car’s four bay doors. I soon found myself sitting in a luxurious and comfortable white leather seat reminiscent of the style found in airline cockpits. (Money will be of no object in the future, at least in Mercedes’ vision.)

    With Lehmann in the “conductor’s” chair, I prepared mentally for the ride. Would it feel odd? Of course, I considered the possibility of a crash. But they’ve rigorously tested the system, right?