國內各大EV品牌的無人駕駛功能進步神速。今天，Jenny 和 Jason 就要分享《經濟學人》對此的專題報道。

Autonomous driving: 自動駕駛

Self-driving: 同上

Automated driving: 同上

Driverless cars/technology: 無人駕駛汽車、技術

China’s super-smart Tesla-killers: 中國的超級智能特斯拉殺手

Sitting in his spacious office in the southern city of Guangzhou, He Xiaopeng is in an expansive mood. The boss of Xpeng, a Chinese electric-vehicle (ev) maker that is one of the frontrunners in the self-driving tech race, says that autonomous driving is on the cusp of a “ChatGPT moment”： 坐在位于中國南方城市廣州寬敞的辦公室里，小鵬汽車聯合創始人何小鵬心情舒暢。他說，自動駕駛正處于 “ChatGPTt 時刻 ”的臨界點

He points to the instant at the end of 2022 when, after years of development, OpeAIi’s chatbot pushed generative artificial intelligence from the realm of researchers into the mainstream: 他指的是2022年底OpenAI推出聊天機器人，將人工智能從研究領域推向主流的時刻

Mr He says this breakthrough moment is likely to happen later this year. China, whose autonomous-driving development he describes as “the fastest in the world”, is likely to be a driving force: 何先生說，這一突破性時刻很可能在今年晚些時候到來。中國的自動駕駛發展速度被他稱為 “世界最快”，很可能成為推動這一領域發展的驅動力量

American drivers do not see the technology as a crucial feature in the way China’s tech-savvy EV buyers already do, he notes: 他說，美國消費者并不像中國精通技術的電動汽車買家那樣，將自動駕駛技術視為至關重要的功能

On a test drive in an Xpeng P7+ sedan through the bustling metropolis, your correspondent could see the reasons for his optimism. The car overtook a three-wheeled noodle cart, avoided scooters speeding the wrong way down the street and nailed a u-turn without intervention from humans: 在試駕一輛新的小鵬 P7+ 轎車穿越熙熙攘攘的大都市時， 筆者明白了何小鵬樂觀的理由。汽車超越了一輛三輪面條車、避開了街道上逆向行駛的滑板車、并在沒有人工干預的情況下完成了一次掉頭

But the Xpeng driver did need to take control a few times during the twenty-minute ride. Improving the technology so that drivers barely have to touch the wheel on busy city streets is crucial to winning them over, says Mr He: 但在二十分鐘的行駛過程中，小鵬的駕駛員確實需要控制幾次方向盤。何先生說，改進技術，使駕駛員在繁忙的城市道路上幾乎不用觸摸方向盤，是贏得消費者青睞的核心

Xpeng, like many of its rivals, is focused on the next front in a global battle. China’s carmakers made EVs better and more cheaply than the rest of the world and now want to do the same for autonomous vehicles (AV): 與許多競爭對手一樣，小鵬正專注于全球競爭的下一階段。中國的汽車制造商生產出了比世界任何國家都更好、更便宜的電動汽車，現在他們也希望在自動駕駛汽車領域做到這一點

Though Chinese, American and European firms are still grappling over whose technology will dominate, China is racing ahead in deployment at scale: 盡管中國、美國和歐洲的公司仍在競爭這一技術的主導地位，但中國在大規模部署方面已捷足先登

In the world of autonomous driving, there are two paths to commercial deployment: robotaxis and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). China’s robotaxi experiment is the world’s biggest. China has also dominated the rollout of ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems), too: 在自動駕駛領域，有兩條通往商業化應用的道路：機器人出租車（robotaxis）和高級駕駛輔助系統（ADAS）。中國正在進行全球規模最大的機器人出租車實驗；并且在 ADAS（高級駕駛輔助系統）的推廣方面也占據了世界主導地位

Intense competition helped China achieve its lead. In America and Europe, sophisticated ADAS had been limited to premium models, though the tech is becoming more common now: 激烈的競爭幫助中國取得了領先地位。在美國和歐洲，復雜的 ADAS 系統僅限于高端車型， 但是現在這一技術正變得越來越普遍

But in the cut-throat Chinese market, carmakers were quick to include it as standard in order to compete, and many customers are now unwilling to pay for it. BYD, the world’s biggest EV maker, last month said even its cars priced under $10,000 would come with free ADAS that can get on and off motorways, change lanes, and park by itself: 但在競爭白熱化的中國市場，汽車制造商為了競爭，很快就將其列為標準配置，而許多消費者也不愿為此額外付費。全球最大的電動汽車制造商比亞迪上個月表示，即使是售價低于 10,000 美元的車型也將配備免費的 ADAS 系統，可以上下高速公路、變道和自動泊車

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