滴滴在公共道路上测试自动驾驶汽车

Didi Chuxing has been testing two self-driving vehicles on public roads for several months, putting the ride-hailing group further ahead in the race to develop autonomous taxis than had been believed.

滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)在公共道路上测试两辆自动驾驶汽车已有几个月之久，这让这家叫车服务公司在开发自动驾驶出租车的竞赛中的领先程度超出外界预期。

The company used two modified Qoros 5 sports utility vehicles for the tests, which took place on a purpose-built testing track near Shanghai and on public roads, the Chinese carmaker told the Financial Times. Didi Chuxing declined to comment.

观致汽车(Qoros)告诉英国《金融时报》，滴滴出行使用两辆改装的观致5(Qoros 5) SUV，在上海附近的一条专用试车道和公共道路上进行测试。滴滴出行拒绝置评。

On Friday the FT revealed that Didi had tested its own autonomous cars.

英国《金融时报》上周五报道称，滴滴测试了自己的自动驾驶汽车。

Testing in real-world conditions is essential for driverless cars to learn from unexpected situations that would be difficult to simulate, such as how human drivers react to a self-driving vehicle. Studies have shown that aggressive drivers block driverless cars at junctions, so the vehicles need to be made more assertive.

对于无人驾驶汽车而言，在实际道路上测试至关重要，以便让它从很难模拟的意外状况学习，例如人类驾驶者如何对自动驾驶汽车做出反应。研究显示，咄咄逼人的司机会在路口阻碍无人驾驶汽车，因此这些车辆在驾驶行为上需要更为果断。

Developing autonomous vehicles is essential for ride-booking groups to reduce costs by eliminating drivers, as well as to increase fleet utilisation.

对于叫车服务公司而言，开发自动驾驶汽车至关重要，以便通过消除司机来降低成本，并加大车队利用率。

Uber has said it expects to have fully autonomous cars in operation as early as next year, while Grab, a Southeast Asian rival, plans to launch its own driverless service by 2022.

优步(Uber)表示，预计最早明年将运行完全自动驾驶的汽车，而东南亚竞争对手Grab计划最迟在2022年推出自己的无人驾驶汽车服务。

Didi has not publicly given a timeline for the launch of its autonomous service, though earlier this month it struck partnerships with 12 brands to purchase vehicles in the future.

滴滴没有公开宣布推出自动驾驶汽车服务的时间表，尽管本月早些时候该公司与12个品牌结成未来购买汽车的合作伙伴关系。

Qoros, a carmaker based in Shanghai, has been working with the ride-booking group for several months, the company said. The group provided the vehicles for the tests and integrated Didi’s software and sensors into the cars.

总部位于上海的观致表示，它与滴滴合作已有几个月。这家汽车制造商为测试提供车辆，并将滴滴的软件和传感器集成到车内。

Didi employees spent several months at the company’s plant in Changshu, about 50 miles from Shanghai. Qoros also ran the trials, which took place first on the company’s own test track outside its plant and then on public roads.

滴滴员工在距离上海约50英里的观致常熟工厂花费了数月时间。观致还负责运行试车，先是在该公司厂外的自有试车道上，随后在公共道路上进行。

Qoros was founded in 2007 as a joint venture between Chinese carmaker Chery and Israeli group Kenon Holdings. Last month, Chinese conglomerate Baoneng took a 51 per cent stake in Qoros for $1bn, with a pledge to buy 100,000 vehicles a year from the company for at least the next three years.

观致汽车创建于2007年，是中国汽车制造商奇瑞(Chery)和以色列公司Kenon Holdings共同组建的合资公司。上月，中国综合企业宝能(Baoneng)斥资10亿美元购入观致51%股权，承诺至少在未来3年从这家汽车公司每年购买10万辆汽车。

It also has the option to buy Kenon’s remaining shares for $500m.

宝能还拥有以5亿美元购入Kenon所持的剩余股份的选择权。