瞄准中国80后的自动驾驶汽车：揭秘雪佛兰上海车展最新概念车

    一提到雪佛兰的金领结标识，大家就会联想到令人血脉贲张的高性能车——比如科尔维特超跑和大黄蜂科迈罗。因此，这种被动感似乎跟这一品牌不协调。有些业内人士更是推而广之地想到，在完全自动驾驶的情况下，驾驶者如何才能享受一辆车的动力性能呢？传感器技术的领军企业德尔福公司首席技术官杰夫•欧文斯表示，“如果我们开一辆在任何情况下都自动驾驶的车，我们就会被迫将它的程序设定为不完全遵守法定限速。”（通用汽车表示，如果驾驶者喜欢更激烈的性能体验，在开得较快但仍在法定限速以内时，FNR可以把悬挂调紧，过弯时也更急。）

    要想真正实现FNR所号称的全自动驾驶功能，还有大量工作要做。过去三年来，有关自动汽车的研发费用在通用汽车70多亿美元的研发费用中占了大头。和其他厂商及供应商一样，通用汽车也逐渐为更多车型搭载了各种主动安全技术：夜视、盲点预警、变道警示、自适应巡航、刹车辅助等等。而这些技术正是自动驾驶汽车的先驱。明年，通用计划在2017款凯迪拉克CTS上实现车车沟通——汽车能彼此“交谈”以避免碰撞，成为首个达成这一目标的厂商。通用汽车安全战略与汽车计划全球总监约翰•凯普表示：“这是一个逐渐进步的过程——我们2010年和2011年推出的一些功能现在正逐渐用于量产车上。”

    而其他豪华品牌，比如奥迪和梅赛德斯奔驰，则更接近让自动驾驶汽车上路这一目标。但通用汽车的高管表示，到了2030年，这可能就无关紧要了。通用汽车中国公司的设计副总裁布莱恩•奈斯比特的问题是：“消费者到底会如何与这种技术互动并体验它呢——它是真的有利于驾驶，还是会变成另一种负担？”他说，只有那些将所有自动驾驶技术成功整合在一起的厂商才会获得领先地位。

    随着这种整合的进展，自动驾驶汽车也会引发很多有待解决的问题。业内专家现在争论的焦点问题是，谁将拥有这些车辆产生的数据；如何才能让不同城市和乡镇就基础设施标准和法律责任问题达成一致；厂商在为驾驶者提供几乎完全个性化体验的同时，如何才能掌控消费者对相关汽车品牌的体验。安永咨询公司汽车分析师珍•弗兰•特伦不莱表示：“就像耐克公司现在是一家健康服务公司而不再是制鞋企业一样，汽车厂商也将不再只是生产厂商，而是所谓的移动服务供应商。”

    上个月，在Metalcrafters公司那间工作室里，这类宏大思考还显得太遥远。当时，技师们正为了完成原型车全力以赴，他们要把上千块车身部件的最后一块拼接好，还要测试240多英尺长的LED灯带。最后，一位技师小心翼翼地遥控着这辆车长192英寸的杰作驶入一个特制的船运集装箱——这是它抵达上海前的小家。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    审校：任文科

    That passivity can seem incongruous, given that the Chevy bowtie logo has always been associated with high-rev performance—think Corvette and Camaro. Some in the industry wonder more generally what will happen to a driver’s ability to enjoy a car’s dynamic capabilities in an autonomous world. According to Jeff Owens, CTO at Delphi, a leader in sensor technology, “If we get to a car that truly drives itself in all conditions, you’d be hard-pressed to program it not to follow the legal speed limit.” (GM says that for drivers who like an edgier performance experience, the FNR will be able to tighten its suspension and execute tight turns while hitting high but legal speeds.)

    There’s much work to be done before cars come anywhere close to fulfilling the FNR’s fully autonomous promise. Autonomous-vehicle research has accounted for a significant share of the more than $7 billion GM has spent annually on research and development over the past three years. And like other manufacturers and suppliers, GM has gradually loaded more vehicles with active-safety technologies that are precursors to a car that could pilot itself—night vision, blind-spot alerts, lane-change warnings, adaptive cruise control, brake assist. Next year GM aims to be the first automaker to bring vehicle-to-vehicle communication—cars “talking” to one another in an effort to avoid collisions—to market, in a 2017 Cadillac CTS. “It’s a step-by-step progression—some of the things we introduced in 2010 and 2011 are now trickling down into our production cars,” says John Capp, GM’s global director of safety strategies and vehicle programs.

    Other, more luxury-oriented companies, including Audi and Mercedes-Benz, are closer to putting autonomous vehicles on the road. But GM executives say that by 2030, that may not matter. “How will the consumer interface with and experience all this technology—will it really help, or will it become a secondary burden?” asks Bryan Nesbitt, GM China vice president of design. The automakers that integrate the tech most successfully, Nesbitt says, will come out ahead.

    As integration advances, self-driving cars will generate myriad problems that will have to be solved. Industry experts are now debating who will own the data autonomous vehicles will generate; how to get cities, counties, and countries to agree on infrastructure standards and liability issues; and how carmakers can own a consumer’s experience at the brand level while offering near-complete personalization to drivers. Says EY automotive analyst Jean-François Tremblay: “Just as Nike is now a wellness company and no longer a shoemaker, carmakers are no longer just manufacturers but also mobility-service providers.”

    Back at Metalcrafters last month, such macro musings seemed far away as the craftsmen raced to finish the prototype “build,” attaching the last of the thousands of hand-painted body panels and testing the more than 240 feet of LED lighting. At last, one technician delicately remote-controlled the 192-inch-long wonder into a specially built shipping container—its home until its arrival in Shanghai.