評論
打印
The future of cars
汽車的未來
Wireless wheels
無線互聯汽車
Connected cars will make driving safer, cleaner and more efficient. Their introduction should be speeded up
聯網汽車將讓駕駛更安全、環保、高效。應當加快介紹推廣。
SINCE Henry Ford turned it into a mass-market product a century ago, the car has delivered many benefits. It has boosted economic growth, increased social mobility and given people a lot of fun. No wonder mankind has taken to the vehicle with such enthusiasm that there are now a billion automobiles on the world's roads.
一個世紀之前，亨利福特實現了汽車的大規模生產，自那以后汽車就就給我們帶來了諸多好處。它的出現促進了經濟增長，增加了社會流動性，也給人們帶來了很多樂趣。這也就難怪人們對汽車會如此情有獨鐘了，因而現在有十億量汽車奔馳在世界各地的道路上。
But the car has also brought many problems. It pollutes the air, creates congestion and kills people. An astonishing 1.24m people die, and as many as 50m are hurt, in road accidents each year. Drivers and passengers waste around 90 billion hours in traffic jams each year. In some car-choked cities as much as a third of the petrol used is burned by people looking for a space to park.
但是汽車也帶來了很多問題。它會污染空氣，造成交通擁堵，帶來人員傷亡。在每年發生的交通事故中死亡人數高達124萬人，也有500萬人因此受傷。每年駕駛員和行人因為交通堵塞浪費的時間約為900億小時。在一些汽車密集的城市，有三分之一的汽油是用在了找停車位的路上。
Fortunately, an emerging technology promises to make motoring safer, less polluting and less prone to hold-ups (seeTechnology Quarterly). “Connected cars”—which may eventually evolve into driverless cars but for the foreseeable future will still have a human at the wheel—can communicate wirelessly with each other and with traffic-management systems, avoid pedestrians and other vehicles and find open parking spots.
幸運的是，一項新興的科技使得汽車更加安全，更環保也不易造成交通堵塞（另見科技季刊）“聯網汽車”可能最終會進化為無人駕駛，但是短時間內還是需要人來駕駛，并且能通過無線網絡去其他車輛和交通管制系統和相連，還能規避行人、車輛，找到開放的空車位。
Get smart
智能化
Some parts of the transformation are already in place. Many new cars are already being fitted with equipment that lets them maintain their distance and stay in a motorway lane automatically at a range of speeds, and recognise a parking space and slot into it. They are also getting mobile-telecoms connections: soon, all new cars in Europe will have to be able to alert the emergency services if their on-board sensors detect a crash. Singapore has led the way with using variable tolls to smooth traffic flows during rush-hours; Britain is pioneering “smart motorways”, whose speed limits vary constantly to achieve a similar effect. Combined, these innovations could create a much more efficient system in which cars and their drivers are constantly alerted to hazards and routed around blockages, traffic always flows at the optimum speed and vehicles can join up into “platoons” on the motorways, travelling closer together, yet with less risk of crashing.
轉型中的某些部分已經到位。 許多新車都安裝了新的設備，這些新設備能保持車距，并讓車輛以一定的速度自動保持在高速公路車道內行駛，也能識別到空車位插入。這些汽車也搭載了移動電信鏈接設備：很快，如果歐洲新車的機載傳感器檢測到碰撞時，那么它們必須能夠觸發應急服務。 新加坡在控制交通擁堵上走在了前面，通過浮動收費的方式保障高峰時段車流的順暢通行; 英國則是采用“智能高速公路”的先驅，通過對汽車行駛速度的浮動限制達到與新加坡的方法類似的效果。 綜合所有這些創新手段就可以創造一個更有效的系統，在這個系統下不論是汽車還是駕駛員都能不斷的得到風險警告并避開擁堵路段，使得車流始終保持在最佳速度，所有車輛都能加入成排得行駛在高速公路上，車距小但是發生車禍的風險更小。
Just as regulation has helped increase fuel efficiency, cut exhaust fumes and introduce anti-skid equipment, so government involvement is needed to get the connected car on the road. It is beginning to happen. Earlier this year, Europe's standards-setting agencies agreed a common set of protocols for cars and traffic infrastructure to communicate. Others should follow. Governments should then set firm deadlines for all new cars to be fully connected and capable of platooning, and a date for existing cars to be retrofitted with a basic locator beacon and the ability to receive hazard warnings.
正如監管有助于提高燃油效率，減少尾氣排放并引進防滑設備，那么為了讓更多的聯網汽車上路，政府的參與也是必要的。 這也已經開始了。今年早些時候，歐洲的標準制定機構同意為汽車及交通基礎設施之前的通信制定一個共同的協議。 其他的也都將按此執行。各國政府也應設定所有新車聯網和成排管理的最后期限。并為現有的汽車設定一個期限完成基本的定位改裝，能夠接受危險警告。
If cars are to connect, new infrastructure will have to be built. Roads and parking spaces will need sensors to monitor them; motorways will need dedicated lanes for platooning. But this will not necessarily be expensive. Upgrading traffic signals so they can be controlled remotely by a central traffic-management system is a lot cheaper than building new roads.
如果汽車都連了網，那么也需要修建新的配套基礎設施。 道路和停車位都需要傳感器來來監控; 高速公路需要專用車道來成排管理。 但是這并不需要投入大量資金。更新交通信號使他們能夠通過一個中央流量管理系統遠程控制，這比起新建道路便宜不少。
The sooner these changes are made, and cars are plugged into a smart traffic grid, the quicker Singaporean variable pricing—for parking as well as road use—can become the norm. Motorists will then have the incentive, as well as the ability, to avoid the busiest places at the busiest times, and the dreadful toll that roads take in human lives should start falling.
如果能越早完成這些改進，將汽車連接到智能交通網格，那么新加坡施行的停車和道路浮動收費的方法將會成為常態。 那么駕駛員將有動力也有能力在高峰期避開擁堵路段。那么人們生活中可怕的交通費支出也會下降。
In the past, more people driving meant more roads, more jams, more death and more fumes. In future, the connected car could offer mankind the pleasures of the road with rather less of the pain.
在過去，開車的人越多意味著更多路也更添堵。因為車禍死亡的人也會更多，尾氣也更多。而在未來，聯網汽車可以在讓人們享受奔馳在路上的同時少一些痛苦。
