沃尔沃想用微软的全息眼镜卖车

现在购车的一般流程是，先网上搜索，再访问本地经销商，如果你无法近距离观察汽车，还需要一点点想象力。

沃尔沃希望借助微软尚未上市的增强现实设备HoloLens，摆脱这种有局限性的购车体验。这家汽车制造商已宣布与微软合作，准备将HoloLens融入到购车体验当中。不过，此次合作不止限于使用增强现实技术——两家公司还将在自动驾驶技术方面展开合作，并将使用联网汽车生成的海量数据，合作开发其他新服务。

在华盛顿州雷德蒙德市的微软总部举行的一场展示会上，两家公司正式宣布合作。微软向与会者展示了沃尔沃客户如何利用其增强现实界面，在三维空间中配置车辆。例如，戴上无线缆、可穿戴的全息摄影计算机HoloLens后，客户可以探索其潜在购买对象的内饰和外观，还可以更改功能、颜色和其他选项。

不过，在沃尔沃经销商那里，你短期内还看不到HoloLens。沃尔沃联网汽车部门发言人萨沙•黑尼格告诉《财富》杂志，目前尚不能给出具体的推出日期。换言之，敬请期待未来的消息。

与沃尔沃的合作对微软同样有好处。微软曾透露称，该公司希望HoloLens不只是一款娱乐设备。微软在增强现实与虚拟现实技术领域投入了巨资。据研究咨询公司Digi-Capital预测，至2020年，这两项业务的年收入将达到1500亿美元。

与此同时，汽车制造商之间也在展开一场“技术军备竞赛”，纷纷研发自动驾驶汽车，将驾驶员变成乘客。正在研发自动驾驶技术的汽车制造商，并不仅仅限于奥迪、戴姆勒集团旗下的梅赛德斯-奔驰、福特和特斯拉等公司。微软的竞争对手苹果和谷歌也在开发无人驾驶汽车。

2010年被浙江吉利控股集团收购的沃尔沃，一直在研发自动驾驶功能，包括允许驾驶员通过方向盘上专门设计的控制杆激活和关闭自动驾驶模式。这个名为“IntelliSafe Auto Pilot”的人机界面，将首先用在100辆沃尔沃XC90上。沃尔沃计划将这100辆汽车提供给2017年在瑞典哥德堡开始的“Drive Me”项目。

These days, buying a car typically involves some online research, a visit to a local dealer, and a little imagination—if you can’t get an up close view of the vehicle.

Volvo wants to break free from this limited buying experience by using HoloLens, Microsoft’s yet-to-be-released, augmented reality device. The automaker announced it would work with Microsoft to incorporate the device into the car-buying experience. But this partnership won’t be limited to just using augmented reality—the companies plan to work on autonomous driving technologies as well, and use the enormous amount of data generated from connected cars to create other new services.

During a demonstration at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash. where the partnership was announced, attendees were shown how the Windows-maker’s augmented reality interface could be used by Volvo customers to configure cars in three dimensions. For example, wearing HoloLens, an untethered, wearable holographic computer, customers can explore the ins and outs of their potential purchase, changing features, colors, and other options.

But don’t expect HoloLens at local Volvo dealers anytime soon. Sascha Heiniger, a spokesman for Volvo’s connected car division, told Fortune that at this stage, it’s too early to talk about a concrete introduction date. In other words, stay tuned for future announcements.

Still, the Volvo collaboration also helps Microsoft, which has said in the past that it wants HoloLens to be more than an entertainment device. Microsoft has invested heavily in both augmented reality and virtual reality technology, which are two businesses that are expected to generate $150 billion in combined annual revenue by 2020, according to Digi-Capital, a research and advising firm.

Meanwhile, automakers are in a technological race todevelop self-driving vehicles that will turn drivers into passengers. Audi, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and Tesla are just a few automakers that are developing autonomous driving features. Microsoft competitors Apple and Google are also developing driverless cars.

Volvo, which was acquired by Zhejiang Geely Holding of China in 2010, has been working on autonomous features that include an interface which will allow drivers to activate and deactivate the self-driving mode through specially-designed paddles on the steering wheel. The interface, called IntelliSafe Auto Pilot, will be available for the first time on 100 XC90 model cars that Volvo will make available for its Drive Me project in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2017.

沃尔沃一直在尝试各种方式，让汽车在完全受控的情况下，从驾驶员驾驶向全自动驾驶模式过渡。在2015年洛杉矶车展上，沃尔沃公布了其中一种想法——专属座椅设计和娱乐信息中心，当驾驶员在驾驶模式与放松模式之间转换时，座椅和娱乐信息中心可自动进行调整。当驾驶员希望汽车接管驾驶的时候，这款Concept 26汽车的方向盘可以伸缩，座椅可放倒，仪表板上会突然出现一个大的显示器。Concept 26代表每天平均26分钟的通勤时间。

由于监管跟不上技术进步的速度，我们或许要等到几年甚至几十年之后才能看到全自动驾驶汽车。所以，沃尔沃才会关注其他可以实施的技术，如微软的HoloLnes。例如，沃尔沃开始销售其新款插电式混合动力车时，可以将增强现实设备作为一个特别便利的销售工具。沃尔沃希望，至2020年，该公司至少10%的全球销售额将来自电动汽车。要实现这一目标，它必须说服消费者放弃汽油驱动的引擎。该公司还计划在整个产品系列中增加插电式混合动力车，开发更紧凑的全新电动车，并计划在2019年推出纯电动汽车。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

审校：任文科

Volvo has also experimented with ways to transition consumers from driving to full autonomous mode, in which the car is in total control. One idea, which debuted this week at the 2015 LA Auto Show, is an interior seat design and infotainment center that adjusts as the driver moves from driving to relaxing. Concept 26—named to reflect the average daily commute to work of 26 minutes—makes the steering wheel retract, the seat recline, and a large display suddenly emerge from the dashboard, when the driver wants the car to take over.

Fully autonomous vehicles may be years, perhaps decades away, largely because regulations have not caught up with technology. This is why Volvo has focused on other implementing tech, such as Microsoft’s HoloLens, in the meantime. For instance, the augmented reality device could could be a particularly handy sales tool device as Volvo starts rolling out its new plug-in electric hybrid vehicles. The company is aiming for at least 10% of its global sales to come from electrified cars by 2020. To reach that goal, it will have to convince consumers to move away from gas-powered engines. The company is also planning to add plug-in hybrid vehicles across its entire product range, to develop a whole new line of smaller, electric cars, and to build an all-electric vehicle for sale by 2019.