百度自動駕駛技術走上開源之路大綱

Baidu, China’s largest search group, has launched an attempt to become the Android of the automotive world by sharing its self-driving technology.
中國最大的搜索集團百度(Baidu)發起一項努力，試圖通過共享其無人駕駛技術，成爲汽車界的安卓(Android)。

At the Shanghai Auto Show yesterday, Baidu revealed its Apollo project, which it said was an “open, complete and reliable software platform for its partners in the automotive and autonomous driving industry to develop their own autonomous driving systems”.
在昨天的上海車展上，百度透露了“阿波羅計劃”。百度稱，該計劃“將向汽車行業及自動駕駛領域的合作伙伴提供一個開放、完整、安全的軟件平臺，幫助他們結合車輛和硬件系統，快速搭建一套屬於自己的完整的自動駕駛系統。”

The move appeared inspired by Google’s efforts to dominate smartphones by launching Android as an open source set of tools that other companies could customise.
該舉動的靈感似乎來自谷歌(Google)主導智能手機的努力，後者把安卓設計爲一套開源工具，讓其他公司可以定製。

Baidu said it would open its technology in stages. In July it would share intellectual property for “restricted environment” driving, with technology for simple urban road conditions to follow this year. By 2020 software for “fully autonomous driving capabilities on highways and open city roads” would be available.
百度稱，將分階段開放其技術。7月，它將分享“受限環境”駕駛的知識產權，隨後在今年晚些時候分享簡單城市道路環境下的技術。到2020年，百度將提供具備“公路和開放性城市道路全自動駕駛能力”的軟件。

Open-sourcing of automotive technology is not uNPRecedented: in 2014 electric carmaker Tesla offered tech secrets to rivals in an attempt to boost interest in low-emission vehicles.
對汽車技術進行開源並非史無前例：2014年電動汽車製造商特斯拉(Tesla)向競爭對手提供了技術祕密，試圖提升行業對低排放汽車的興趣。

Baidu had sought to develop autonomous driving technology through partnerships with Chinese carmakers such as BAIC and Chery, with which it has road-tested Lincoln cars in California.
百度試圖通過與北汽控股(BAIC)和奇瑞(Chery)等中國汽車製造商建立合作關係，來研發自動駕駛技術。百度已在加州用林肯汽車進行了道路測試。

In artificial intelligence Baidu is widely considered to have an edge over domestic competitors and is regularly rated on a par with IBM and Google.
在人工智能方面，百度被普遍認爲擁有超出國內競爭者的優勢，經常被認爲是與IBM和谷歌水平相仿的領先者。

“AI has great potential to drive social development, and one of AI’s biggest opportunities is intelligent vehicles,” said Qi Lu, Baidu’s chief operating officer, yesterday.
“人工智能擁有推動社會發展的巨大潛力，而人工智能最大的機遇之一是智能汽車，”百度首席運營官陸奇昨日表示。

However, a setback came last month when some of the group’s most senior talent quit.
然而，上月百度遭遇了一個挫折，其集團內一些最資深的人才出走。

Mark Natkin of Marbridge Consulting in Beijing said the open-source move was ambiguous. “One could look at this as an ambitious effort to jump out into the forefront of autonomous driving technology,” he said.
北京邁博瑞諮詢(Marbridge Consulting)的馬克?納特金(Mark Natkins)稱，百度的開源舉動讓人看不懂。“人們可以把這視爲跳到自動駕駛技術前沿的雄心之舉，”他稱。

But it could also be “a step back from a wholly self-contained effort”.
但它也可能是“從完全自成一體的努力倒退一步”。

How Baidu intends to generate revenue from the open-source model is unclear. Shu Chang, a consultant at Roland Berger in Shanghai, said the data generated by the project would be immensely valuable.
尚不清楚百度打算如何從開源模式中獲得營收。羅蘭貝格(Roland Berger)駐上海顧問舒暢表示，該項目生成的數據將極具價值。

“The biggest driver for Baidu in this project is that through an open platform like this it is able to collect user information through the whole autonomous driving and car networking system,” he said.
他稱，“百度在該項目上最大的動力是，通過像這樣的開放平臺，它可以通過整個自動駕駛和汽車網絡系統收集用戶信息。”

For car companies open-sourcing will lower the costs of developing their own technology, according to the IDC consultancy. “For the driverless car industry, this will lower the tech threshold for the overall automobile industry and help to form an industry standard,” its analysts wrote.
據諮詢公司IDC表示，對於汽車企業而言，開源將降低研發自己技術的成本。IDC的分析師們寫道，“對無人駕駛汽車行業來說，這將爲整個汽車行業降低技術門檻，並且幫助形成行業標準。”

Baidu conducted successful road tests of fully autonomous cars in Beijing in December 2015.
2015年12月，百度在北京成功完成了全自動駕駛汽車的道路測試。