新科技: 科技让开车更简单

There's a technology revolution in the auto business, and it involves more than streaming radio apps and voice-activated Facebook updates.
汽车行业正在经历一场技术变革，而且不止是网络电台应用和声控Facebook更新那么简单。

Consumers who haven't shopped for a new car for five or more years -- and that's a lot of people, since the average U.S. vehicle has been on the road for just over a decade -- may encounter some exotic new advances.
在美国公路上奔驰的汽车平均年龄为10年多一点，很多消费者至少已有五年没有购置新车。当他们进入车市，也许会发现汽车多了一些新奇的高科技功能。

To attract safety-conscious drivers, some car makers are revisiting the question, 'Is there anywhere else we can stash an air bag?' Night-vision systems not unlike what the military uses to spot enemies in the dark are appearing at the upper reaches of the luxury market. And to meet tougher fuel-economy standards, car makers are installing transmissions with up to nine speeds.
为吸引注重安全的车主，一些汽车制造商正在重新考虑一个问题：“还有没有更多的地方可以放置安全气囊？”顶级的豪华车市场已出现汽车夜视系统，可以媲美军队用于在黑暗中识别敌人的夜视技术。为符合越来越严格的燃油经济性标准，制造商正在汽车上配备高达九速的变速箱。

Only a few customers might order such novel features. But what starts out as a costly, brand-burnishing option in a luxury sedan often migrates into wider use as technology prices invariably drop. Here's a sample of new technology hitting showrooms this year.
目前，只有少数消费者愿意花钱选购这样的新奇功能。然而，豪华车上一些价格高昂、彰显品牌的选配项目往往会在技术成本不可避免地日趋降低后一举成为广泛应用的大众配置。下文列出了2013年出现的一些高科技。

Click an Inflatable Seat Belt
气囊安全带

Auto makers and safety-technology suppliers such as Sweden's Autoliv have developed shoulder straps with air bags built in. In the U.S., Ford Motor Co. was the first to offer this bag-in-belt technology on 2011 Explorers. Now, Mercedes-Benz will offer it on its new S-Class sedans.
汽车制造商以及瑞典奥托立夫公司(Autoliv)等安全技术供应商已研究出集成安全气囊的安全肩带。在美国，福特汽车公司(Ford Motor Co.)首开先河，在2011款Explorer汽车上安装了气囊安全带。现在，梅赛德斯-奔驰公司(Mercedes-Benz)也在其新款S级轿车上提供这一配置。

Although traditional lap and shoulder belts prevent thousands of deaths a year, they can also cause what researchers call 'seat-belt syndrome.' The belts can lead to severe injuries to organs, muscles and spines, especially in violent crashes. Inflatable seat belts are meant to reduce this risk. Traditional air-bag systems mounted in the car's steering wheel and elsewhere use a hot gas to rapidly inflate the bag during a crash. To prevent burns, bag-in-belt systems use a cold gas to inflate its protective bladder.
虽然传统的腰带式和肩带式安全带每年都能防止数千起死亡事故，但也会引起研究人员所谓的“安全带并发症”(seat-belt syndrome)。安全带可能导致人体组织、肌肉和脊椎的严重损伤，尤其是在猛烈的撞车事故中。气囊安全带的应用正是为了降低这一风险。传统的气囊系统一般安装在汽车的方向盘等地方，在撞车时点燃固态燃料并产生气体，使气囊迅速膨胀。为防止乘客被炙热气体灼伤，气囊安全带使用冷气体来给气囊充气。

Ford says it currently offers bag-in-belt systems on four models -- the Explorer, the Flex wagon and the Lincoln MKT. About 25% of people who buy those vehicles order the bag-in-belt option, Ford says. Mercedes says it will likely move the technology into other models, but isn't outlining specific plans.
福特公司表示，其目前在四款车型上提供气囊安全带，分别为Explorer、Flex旅行车和林肯(Lincoln)MKT。在购买上述车型的消费者中，约有25%选购了气囊安全带配置。梅赛德斯-奔驰公司称，其打算将这一技术运用到其他车型上，但还没有公布具体计划。

Spot Pedestrians in the Dark
夜视行人识别系统

Safety regulators around the world are increasingly focused on motor-vehicle accidents involving pedestrians, and that's spurring development of new systems to help drivers see people on foot before it's too late.
全球的汽车安全监管部门都越来越重视涉及行人的机动车事故，这刺激了用于帮助驾车者提前发现行人以及时采取避险措施的新系统的研发。

More than 4,000 pedestrians a year die in the U.S. after being hit by a car. Nearly 70,000 were injured in motor-vehicle accidents in 2011, according to government data. Many of these incidents happen at night.
在美国，每年有超过4,000个行人因撞车事故死亡。据美国政府公布的数据，2011年，因机动车事故受伤的行人数量接近70,00人；很多事故都在夜间发生。

This year, German luxury brand BMW AG is launching a 'dynamic-spotlight' technology that uses an infrared camera mounted behind the grille to see down the road ahead. Software can pick out the outline of a person (or animal) and signal the car's headlights to illuminate them -- and help prevent a collision. The system also shows an in-cabin alert, projecting an icon representing a person enclosed in a yellow triangle onto either a dashboard screen or the windshield.
2013年，德国豪华车品牌宝马公司(BMW AG)推出“dynamic-spotlight”夜视系统，通过安装在汽车前格栅后面的红外线摄像头来观察前方路面情况，相关软件能够识别行人（或动物）的外形轮廓，启动汽车前大灯照亮前方，协助避免碰撞事故的发生。该系统也有驾驶舱提示功能，发现行人时系统会在仪表盘屏幕上显示或在挡风玻璃上投射一个黄色三角形内置人形的图标。