百度：自主駕駛汽車面臨安全“路障”

Autonomous vehicles are in danger of being turned into “weapons”, leading governments around the world to block cars operated by foreign companies, the head of Baidu’s self-driving car programme has warned.

百度(Baidu)自動(dòng)駕駛汽車計(jì)劃負(fù)責(zé)人警告稱，自主車輛存在被人用作“武器”、導(dǎo)致世界各國(guó)政府封殺境外公司的汽車操作系統(tǒng)的危險(xiǎn)。

Qi Lu, chief operating officer at the Chinese internet group, said security concerns could become a problem for global carmakers and technology companies, including the US and China.

這家中國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)集團(tuán)的首席運(yùn)營(yíng)官陸奇表示，安全擔(dān)憂可能成為全球汽車制造商和科技公司(包括美國(guó)和中國(guó))面臨的一個(gè)問題。

“It has nothing to do with any particular government — it has to do with the very nature of autonomy,” he said on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show last week. “You have an object that is capable of moving by itself. By definition, it is a weapon.”

“這與具體哪個(gè)政府沒有關(guān)系，而是與自主駕駛本身的特性有關(guān)，”他在上周舉行的消費(fèi)電子展(CES)間隙表示。“你有一件能夠自己移動(dòng)的物體。從定義上說，這就是一種武器。”

Increasingly, self-driving technology is seen as advancing faster than regulators can keep up with. Regional and national governments are grappling with the issue of when to allow autonomous cars on to their roads and under what conditions.

自主駕駛技術(shù)日益被視為發(fā)展太快，使監(jiān)管者難以跟上。地區(qū)和國(guó)家政府正在苦苦思索的問題包括：何時(shí)允許自主駕駛汽車在轄內(nèi)上路?在什么條件下允許這么做?

Multinational companies will have a “high bar” to meet local policy requirements for autonomous driving, Mr Lu said. “The days of building a vehicle in one place and it runs everywhere are over. Because a vehicle that can move by itself by definition it is a weapon.”

陸奇表示，跨國(guó)公司在滿足當(dāng)?shù)貙?duì)自主駕駛的政策要求方面將面臨高門檻。“在一個(gè)地方建造一款車，讓它在任何地方都能上路的日子已經(jīng)結(jié)束了。因?yàn)橐惠v可以自行移動(dòng)的車輛從定義上說就是一種武器。”

Baidu is investing heavily in Apollo, its open-source autonomous car software, as it looks to diversify away from its core business of internet advertising into artificial intelligence. At CES, it unveiled Apollo 2.0, which offers improved security, alongside a new $200m fund to invest in south-east Asian efforts to improve autonomous driving.

百度正在大舉投資于開源自主汽車軟件阿波羅(Apollo);該公司正尋求在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告這塊核心業(yè)務(wù)的基礎(chǔ)上拓展業(yè)務(wù)，進(jìn)入人工智能領(lǐng)域。百度在消費(fèi)電子展上發(fā)布了提供更好安全性的“阿波羅2.0”，并宣布建立一只新的2億美元基金，以投資于東南亞國(guó)家改進(jìn)自主駕駛的努力。

It has already agreed partnerships with US chip companies, including Intel and Nvidia, as well as American and European carmakers Ford and Daimler. In China it is working with local auto manufacturers JAC and BAIC, who plan to start producing autonomous vehicles based on Apollo as soon as next year.

該公司已經(jīng)與英特爾(Intel)和英偉達(dá)(Nvidia)等美國(guó)芯片公司、以及福特(Ford)和戴姆勒(Daimler)等美歐汽車制造商達(dá)成合作伙伴關(guān)系。在中國(guó)，它正與本土汽車制造商江淮汽車(JAC)和北汽(BAIC)合作，后者計(jì)劃最早在明年就開始生產(chǎn)基于阿波羅的自主車輛。

Mr Lu, who joined Baidu from Microsoft a year ago, said autonomous vehicles should reduce fatalities on the road, whether caused accidentally or intentionally as an act of terrorism. Pointing to incidents in London and Charlottesville where cars were used intentionally to run down pedestrians, he said: “In the future, these cars won’t move if they see a human in front of [them] — it doesn’t matter who controls the car.”

一年前從微軟(Microsoft)加盟百度的陸奇表示，自主駕駛汽車應(yīng)該能夠減少道路上的死亡人數(shù)——無論起因是事故還是蓄意的恐怖主義行為。他提到倫敦和夏洛茨維爾發(fā)生的汽車撞人事件，稱：“將來，這些汽車如果看到前方有人，它們就不會(huì)撞上去——無論由誰控制汽車都是這樣。”

Despite the “overwhelming benefits” of autonomous driving, Mr Lu said it would not happen without a “lot of dialogue” between companies, regulators and politicians. “How we ensure safety, in my view, is going to be a journey,” he said.

盡管自主駕駛具有“壓倒性好處”，但陸奇表示，如果企業(yè)、監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)和政界人士之間沒有“大量對(duì)話”，這種前景就不會(huì)發(fā)生。“在我看來，在我們?nèi)绾未_保安全的問題上，會(huì)有一段路要走，”他表示。

Mr Lu’s remarks came amid rising tensions between the US and China following news that AT&T had pulled out of plans to distribute Huawei’s smartphones on the eve of the deal’s announcement at the Las Vegas conference. Security concerns have been blamed for the collapse of talks between the US operator and the Chinese smartphone maker.

陸奇發(fā)表這番言論之際，美中之間緊張升溫，有消息稱，AT&T在最后一刻退出了本來準(zhǔn)備在消費(fèi)電子展上宣布的分銷華為(Huawei)智能手機(jī)的計(jì)劃。這家美國(guó)運(yùn)營(yíng)商與華為這家中國(guó)智能手機(jī)制造商之間談崩，被歸因于安全擔(dān)憂。

Mr Lu said the open nature of Apollo, to which any company can contribute new software coding, would help Baidu navigate regulatory challenges.

陸奇說，阿波羅的開放性(任何公司都可向這款開源操作系統(tǒng)貢獻(xiàn)新的軟件編碼)，將有助于百度應(yīng)對(duì)監(jiān)管方面的挑戰(zhàn)。

“Apollo is created by Baidu but not owned by Baidu,” he said. “We fundamentally believe that an open system that cultivates an environment where the best of breed can participate is better than one single company that does it alone.”

“阿波羅是由百度創(chuàng)建，但不是百度擁有的，”他表示。“我們從根本上相信，讓一個(gè)開放系統(tǒng)營(yíng)造一個(gè)讓優(yōu)秀企業(yè)能夠參與的環(huán)境，比一家公司單干更好。”