独家专访：奔驰自动驾驶概念车背后的两位主导者和他们的疯狂创想

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：在这张图片中，父母显然是从前排座位上转过身子，面对着后排座位上的孩子。我们是在完成了自己的概念后才发现这一点的。

    这张图片也带来了一些批评，即F 015看起来更像是上世纪50年代人眼中的科幻产物，带有复古未来主义色彩，而不是一个特别向前看的产品。

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：我喜欢“复古未来主义”这个词。我认为这个词是从新甲壳虫的设计师J Mays那里流行起来的。但在F 015上，我并不接受这种批评，因为上世纪五六十年代的汽车是非常保守的，因为当时社会的主流观念是父亲要坐在车子前排。你在迪士尼动画中也能看到同样的画面。根据五十年代对性别的刻板印象，父亲总是开着车子去办公室而不是走路去，家庭主妇和孩子则老是去逛街购物。但我们的车型整合了人与人之间的通讯结构。它的设计更像是一款机器人而不是一辆轿车。在我们的愿景中，“机器人轿车”或“移动机器人”可以改善人们的互动。

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：在2012年的那次董事会上，其他团队提出的概念都被董事会否决了。当我们进行展示时，董事会表示：“好，这个概念非常未来主义，我们相信这个概念。你可以走得更深更远吗？”就这样，我们得到了董事会的批准，继续我们的工作。

    奔驰F 015采取这种特别的外观是不可避免的吗？

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：我其实更喜欢另一种没有座位，但有可移动家具的内饰方案。那种方案没有安全带，而且只适合一个人乘坐。

    一个人坐这么大的一辆车？

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：是的，一个人占有整辆车才是终极的奢华。你可以毫无限制地在车里睡觉。但负责安全的工程师给我们亮了红灯，说那不是一个好主意。

    那个座椅是在中间吗？

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：其实那只是一张巨大的床垫。

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：想象一下，罗马人肯定会非常喜欢它。

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：在所有创意中，我们选择了两个特别适合奔驰品牌的创意进行比较。其一是豪车型，我们也称之为“未来移动休息室”，它最终演变成了今天的F 015。另一个创意中，车子的高度要高一些，它又叫“未来移动阁楼”。当时董事会选择了“休息室”概念，因为豪车是我们的核心竞争力，奔驰就是因为擅长造高端豪华轿车而出名的。

    很多次我们回头看以往的未来主义概念时，都会产生过时感。你担心这种情况会发生在F 015上吗？

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：不，有些很好的未来主义概念即便在今天看起来也依然不过时。你不妨想想上世纪三四十年代的赛车，它们即便在今天看来也令人印象深刻并充满未来色彩。当然，也有些未来主义概念在当时看起来就很难看，有人说十年后人们大概就习惯了那种设计，但真到了十年后，它们依然很难看。

    你认为这些元素会在2030年前出现在奔驰S级等车型上吗？

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：当然。等到它的设计或技术足够成熟，法律方面的问题也得到解决时，我们就会把所有的想法投入量产。

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：花费了这么昂贵的代价，它不可能是一个游戏。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    审校：任文科

    HH: Obviously, mom and dad are turning around from the front row to face the kids. We found this after we completed our concept.

    BB: This picture brings up a criticism, that the F 015 seems like a futuristic vision from the 1950s, sort of a retro-futuristic image, rather than something specifically forward-looking.

    AM: I like the term retro-futurist. I believe it was a term made popular by the car designer J Mays, who designed the new Beetle. In this case, I don’t accept it because these cars from the ‘50s and ‘60s were very conservative, in terms of the social sense of a family with the father in the front. You see the same thing in Disney animations. You have the father going in this car to the office, but not walking. Instead, he takes just one step out of the car. The housewife and the children are going shopping according to the gender stereotypes of the 1950s. In our case, the vehicle is integrated with the fabric of communication between people. It’s designed more like a robot than a car. The robot-car or mobile robot in our vision can enhance how you interact.

    HH: When that board meeting happened in 2012, we stepped into the void left by the rejection of the other team’s concept. So, when we presented, the board said, “Yes, that’s very futuristic. We believe in that. Can you go further and deeper?” This is when we got permission to continue our work.

    BB: Was it inevitable that the Mercedes F 015 would take this specific shape?

    AM: I would have preferred an interior without seats, but with movable furniture. It would be without safety belts and for just one person.

    BB: One person for the whole car but the same size?

    AM: Yes, one person for the whole car would have the ultimate luxury. You could sleep in there without any restraints. But the safety engineers said no, that’s not a good idea.

    BB: The seat was in the middle?

    HH: It was actually just a huge cushion.

    AM: Think of how the Romans would have loved it.

    HH: Out of all the ideas, we choose two that fit specifically to the Mercedes brand. One was a limousine type, which we called “the future mobility lounge,” which led to the F 015. We came up with a second idea for a taller car, the “future mobility loft.” But at that time, the members of the board decided on the lounge because if we consider this to be a future limousine, that’s our core competence. Mercedes is known for building high-class luxury sedans.

    BB: So many times when we look back at futuristic concepts from the past, they look dated. Do you fear this will happen with the F 015?

    AM: No, because you have good futuristic concepts, which look futuristic even today. Think of racing cars from the 1930s and 1940s. They still look impressive and futuristic today. And there are futuristic concepts that were ugly at the time, and people said that in ten years, everybody would grow accustomed to the design. Ten years later, they were ugly again.

    BB: Do you see elements of this arriving well before 2030 in, for example, the S-Class.

    HH: Sure. As soon as the either the design or the technology is mature enough to be released, and the legal aspects are solved, we will let all this thinking go into production.

    AM: This is not a game. It’s too expensive to be a game.