新科技: 科技讓開車更簡單大綱

There's a technology revolution in the auto business, and it involves more than streaming radio apps and voice-activated Facebook updates.
汽車行業正在經歷一場技術變革，而且不止是網絡電臺應用和聲控Facebook更新那麼簡單。

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.
在美國公路上奔馳的汽車平均年齡爲10年多一點，很多消費者至少已有五年沒有購置新車。當他們進入車市，也許會發現汽車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.
爲吸引注重安全的車主，一些汽車製造商正在重新考慮一個問題：“還有沒有更多的地方可以放置安全氣囊？”頂級的豪華車市場已出現汽車夜視系統，可以媲美軍隊用於在黑暗中識別敵人的夜視技術。爲符合越來越嚴格的燃油經濟性標準，製造商正在汽車上配備高達九速的變速箱。

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，只有少數消費者願意花錢選購這樣的新奇功能。然而，豪華車上一些價格高昂、彰顯品牌的選配項目往往會在技術成本不可避免地日趨降低後一舉成爲廣泛應用的大衆配置。下文列出了2013年出現的一些高科技。

Click an Inflatable Seat Belt
氣囊安全帶

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.
汽車製造商以及瑞典奧托立夫公司(Autoliv)等安全技術供應商已研究出集成安全氣囊的安全肩帶。在美國，福特汽車公司(Ford Motor Co.)首開先河，在2011款Explorer汽車上安裝了氣囊安全帶。現在，梅賽德斯-奔馳公司(Mercedes-Benz)也在其新款S級轎車上提供這一配置。

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.
雖然傳統的腰帶式和肩帶式安全帶每年都能防止數千起死亡事故，但也會引起研究人員所謂的“安全帶併發症”(seat-belt syndrome)。安全帶可能導致人體組織、肌肉和脊椎的嚴重損傷，尤其是在猛烈的撞車事故中。氣囊安全帶的應用正是爲了降低這一風險。傳統的氣囊系統一般安裝在汽車的方向盤等地方，在撞車時點燃固態燃料併產生氣體，使氣囊迅速膨脹。爲防止乘客被炙熱氣體灼傷，氣囊安全帶使用冷氣體來給氣囊充氣。

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，其目前在四款車型上提供氣囊安全帶，分別爲Explorer、Flex旅行車和林肯(Lincoln)MKT。在購買上述車型的消費者中，約有25%選購了氣囊安全帶配置。梅賽德斯-奔馳公司稱，其打算將這一技術運用到其他車型上，但還沒有公佈具體計劃。

Spot Pedestrians in the Dark
夜視行人識別系統

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.
全球的汽車安全監管部門都越來越重視涉及行人的機動車事故，這刺激了用於幫助駕車者提前發現行人以及時採取避險措施的新系統的研發。

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.
在美國，每年有超過4,000個行人因撞車事故死亡。據美國政府公佈的數據，2011年，因機動車事故受傷的行人數量接近70,00人；很多事故都在夜間發生。

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，德國豪華車品牌寶馬公司(BMW AG)推出“dynamic-spotlight”夜視系統，通過安裝在汽車前格柵後面的紅外線攝像頭來觀察前方路面情況，相關軟件能夠識別行人（或動物）的外形輪廓，啓動汽車前大燈照亮前方，協助避免碰撞事故的發生。該系統也有駕駛艙提示功能，發現行人時系統會在儀表盤屏幕上顯示或在擋風玻璃上投射一個黃色三角形內置人形的圖標。Design Your Own Dashboard
設計自己的儀表盤

Dashboards used to be static displays with mechanical dials and gauges. Now, auto makers are ditching the dials in favor of programmable screens that can display more information and allow drivers to personalize the look of the cockpit displays.
汽車儀表盤曾經是靜態顯示的各種機械錶盤。現在，汽車製造商正在採用可以編程的屏幕，用於顯示更多信息，並允許駕駛者自行定製儀表盤界面。

The new Lexus IS F-Sport model, due out this June, uses a thin-film transistor display and a moving tachometer dial (which measures RPMs) to create a hybrid of the traditional and the new. The technology is adapted from Lexus's super sports car, the LFA. By toggling a control on the steering wheel, the driver can get the big dial in the center of the dashboard to move to the right, revealing a flat-screen display that can be customized for two different drivers. 'We can change languages, miles per hour to kilometers' and show information such as route guidance, says Bill Camp of Lexus's training operation, Lexus University.
新款雷克薩斯(Lexus) IS F-Sport車型計劃於2013年6月推出，其儀表盤採用雷克薩斯超級跑車LFA上的技術，通過薄膜晶體管屏幕和一個發動機轉速錶，打造出傳統與創新相結合的顯示方式。駕駛者可以撥動方向盤上的控制鍵，將儀表盤中央的大表盤移到右邊，騰出空間來爲兩類不同的駕駛者定製錶盤。雷克薩斯公司內訓部門“雷克薩斯大學”(Lexus University)的比爾??坎普(Bill Camp)說：“我們可以改變儀表盤的顯示語種，切換英里和公里計量方式”，並能顯示路面導航等信息。

Shift Into Ninth Gear
九速變速箱

Ever-tougher federal demands for fuel efficiency have led car makers to add more gears to transmissions. And more. And more.
美國政府對汽車燃油經濟性日益嚴格的要求迫使汽車製造商增加變速箱檔位。沒有最多，只有更多。

You don't have to be very old to remember when most cars came with four-speed transmissions. Now, Chrysler Group LLC says it will introduce a nine-speed gearbox designed to fit into a relatively small, front-wheel-drive car.
即便不是年紀很大的人也能回憶起大多數汽車都採用四速變速箱的時代。現在，克萊斯勒集團(Chrysler Group LLC)稱其將推出一款九速變速箱，用於尺寸相對較小的前輪驅動汽車。

ZF Friedrichshafen AG, the German company that makes the nine-speed transmission, says it can improve fuel economy by 10% to 16% compared with a six-speed automatic, mainly because it offers a wider spread of gears to keep the engine in the 'sweet spot,' where it's turning as slowly as possible to stay at a certain speed.
九速變速箱製造商德國採埃孚股份公司(ZF Friedrichshafen AG)表示，與六速自動變速箱相比，九速變速箱能提高燃油經濟性10%到16%，主要是由於其齒輪組傳遞範圍更廣泛，能在特定的發動機轉速下延緩切檔，保持引擎處於“最有效點”。

Such a transmission's challenge lies largely in the software that controls the vehicle's shifting. Too much and drivers could feel as if the car is constantly changing gear and not running smoothly. Too little and the fuel-economy benefits don't materialize.
這類變速箱的主要挑戰在於一個智能控制換檔的軟件。如果換檔過於頻繁，駕駛者可能感覺得到，認爲發動機運行不夠平滑順暢。如果換檔過少，燃油經濟性的好處就不能得以體現。

Michael Ebenhoch, director of ZF's front-drive transmission development, says that with nine speeds, 'we are getting closer to the maximum' for a passenger car. On the other hand, he says, 'the guy who developed the five speed said we don't need six.'
採埃孚公司前輪驅動變速箱研發組的負責人邁克爾??艾本諾克(Michael Ebenhoch)說，九速變速箱“已接近乘用車變速箱的檔位極限”，但從另一方面來說，“當年開發五速變速箱的人也說過今後不再需要六速變速箱”。

Drive by Computer
電腦自動駕駛

Traditionally, steering a car has involved a series of mechanical connections that allow the wheel in your hands to guide the four wheels on the road. Infiniti's new Q50 sedan -- which replaces the current G series in the Nissan Motor Corp. luxury brand's lineup -- boasts the industry's first so-called steer-by-wire system, which swaps out those mechanical elements with an all-electronic system.
以往，汽車轉向涉及一系列機械傳動，讓駕駛者通過手中的方向盤指引汽車的四個輪子。英菲尼迪(Infiniti)新款Q50轎車旨在替代日產汽車公司(Nissan Motor Corp.)高端的G系列車型，宣稱其在行業內率先使用了所謂的線控轉向系統(steer-by-wire system)，將轉向過程中的機械環節全部替換爲電子系統。

Proponents say an electronic signal can be faster than a mechanical linkage at translating what the driver does with the steering wheel to the road. The electronic system also allows drivers to choose among four different degrees of serenity or sportiness in the handling. If the electronics fail, Infiniti says a backup mechanical-linkage system will keep the car under control.
支持者表示，全電子系統能更快地對駕駛者的轉向意圖做出反應，駕駛者可以選擇四種不同程度的轉向處理方式，或注重平穩，或彰顯運動。英菲尼迪稱，如電子轉向系統失靈，備用的機械連接系統能夠避免汽車失控。

The steer-by-wire system is part of an array of technology on board the Q50, including advanced cruise control and radar-enabled braking, that allows the driver to take control when the road is fun and twisty, but also enables the car to handle a lot of driving work itself during a routine commute.
線控轉向系統是Q50車型上一系列高科技配置中的一部分，此外還有先進的巡航系統和自動剎車雷達，不但能讓駕駛者自如應對地形複雜的路段，還能讓汽車在常規駕駛時自動處理許多行車事宜。