谷歌無人駕駛部門Waymo與沃爾瑪?shù)冗_(dá)成合作

Google’s sister-company Waymo has announced a trial in which its self-driving cars will ferry shoppers to and from a nearby Walmart store to pick up their groceries.

谷歌的姊妹公司waymo對外公布了一項(xiàng)試驗(yàn)，自己旗下的自動駕駛汽車將在附近的沃爾瑪商店對購物顧客進(jìn)行接送。

For now, the pilot is being restricted to 400-plus members of its early rider programme in Phoenix, Arizona.

現(xiàn)在，這個試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目僅限于在Arizona州鳳凰城的參加過早期駕駛試驗(yàn)的四百多位成員。

However, it indicates how the tech giant thinks the autonomous vehicles could be deployed if and when they exit the experimental stage.

盡管如此，本項(xiàng)實(shí)驗(yàn)一定程度上表明了這家科技巨頭的態(tài)度，自動駕駛該以何種方式投放市場、何時能夠完成實(shí)驗(yàn)階段。

One expert said cost would be key.

專家稱，乘坐成本是問題關(guān)鍵。

The only word on pricing so far is a promise to offer participants discounts when they order goods via Walmart’s Online Grocery Pickup service as part of the deal.

目前為止，價格方面的信息僅有一項(xiàng)承諾：通過沃爾瑪在線商店服務(wù)下單的顧客將享受乘車折扣。

If this is rolled out properly you would expect there to be a reasonably high threshold in terms of the price and spend commitment to justify the service, commented Julie Palmer, a retail expert at the consultancy Begbies Traynor.

咨詢公司Begbies Traynor的零售專家朱莉.帕爾默(JuliePalmer)評論道：“如果推出得當(dāng)，為體現(xiàn)這一服務(wù)，可以想象在價格和支出方面可能會相當(dāng)高。

You’d expect it to be limited to shoppers buying higher value items.

“這項(xiàng)服務(wù)也可能僅限于購買高價商品的消費(fèi)者”

The Walmart partnership had been rumoured after shoppers spotted Waymo-marked parking spots outside the store involved earlier this week, and shared the discovery on Reddit’s Self-driving Cars forum.

在本周早些時候，有傳言稱購物者在商店外發(fā)現(xiàn)了waymo標(biāo)記的停車點(diǎn)，并在Reddit的自動駕駛汽車論壇上分享了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Some suggested that the tie-up could offer an alternative to Amazon’s Prime Now quick-delivery service.

業(yè)內(nèi)人士稱，這次合作將對標(biāo)亞馬遜的Prime Now，提供即時配送服務(wù)。

Google and Amazon are both looking at cutting-edge ways to enter the food retail market, and we’re only beginning to see them flex their muscles, remarked Ms Palmer.

鮑爾默女士說，“谷歌和亞馬遜都在嘗試以邊緣切入的方式進(jìn)入食品零售市場，現(xiàn)在我們看到的，只是兩家競爭的開始”。

The announcements comes two days after Waymo’s chief executive tweeted that its cars had driven a total of eight million miles on public roads, which is double what its tally had been in November.

兩天前，Waymo的首席執(zhí)行官在推特上表示，該公司的汽車在公共道路上行駛了800萬英里，是去年11月的兩倍。