苹果公司的无人驾驶汽车计划可能已问世

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　　根据《卫报》的最新报道，苹果公司设想的无人驾驶电动汽车计划很可能已成为现实——起码也已进入了测试阶段。

　　The publication, citing documents it obtained under a public records act request, said Apple has met with officials from the GoMentum Station, a large former Navy weapons station near San Francisco that is being changed into a high-security testing area for self-driving cars. GoMentum says its 5,000-acre facility, which features 20 miles of paved roadway, "is the largest secure test facility in the world and will become the center" of connected vehicle applications and autonomous² vehicles technologies -- something that could appeal to a secretive company like Apple. Honda uses the facility to test automated³ driving technologies.

　　该报称，其在符合公共记录法案的前提下获得了一份文件，根据文件显示，苹果公司已经和GoMentum基地的官员有过接触，GoMentum基地是旧金山附近一个大型的前海军武器基地，现在正逐渐被改造成为一个安全系数很高的无人驾驶汽车测试基地。GoMentum方面称，这里有5000英亩的场地，其中有20英里的铺砌道路，是全世界最大的安全测试基地，将成为相关联的车辆应用程序和无人驾驶汽车技术的中心，而这无疑吸引到了像苹果这样希望进行秘密测试的公司。本田汽车公司也使用这个场地测试无人驾驶汽车技术。

　　Frank Fearon, an Apple engineer, wrote to GoMentum that "We would... like to get an understanding of timing⁴ and availability for the space, and how we would need to coordinate⁵ around other parties who would be using [it]," according to the publication. In another email from a GoMentum official to Fearon, the official delayed a tour of the facility but said, "We would still like to meet in order to keep everything moving and to meet your testing schedule."

　　该报还称，苹果公司的一位工程师Frank Fearon曾致信GoMentum：“我们希望明确了解此基地的时间安排和可使用性，以及我们如何与其它正在使用它的机构进行协调。”而在另外一封GoMentum官员写给Fearon的邮件中，GoMentum官员将基地的一个参观活动延期，并表示：“我们更加希望碰面（达成合作）以保证一切（测试活动）顺利进行并且满足你们的测试日程安排。”

　　苹果公司的无人驾驶汽车

　　Apple declined to comment.

　　苹果公司并未对此新闻做出回应。

　　The Guardian didn't publish the documents cited in the report, and it's unclear whether Apple directly said it's building a self-driving electric car. The company could be interested in the facility for other purposes, such as testing out car technologies in a more real-to-life environment instead of in a lab. And there's no guarantee that Apple will release an electric self-driving car even if it's currently researching the technology.

　　《卫报》并未刊登报道中被引用的那份文件，因此无法确定苹果公司是否确实曾说过其在研制无人驾驶电动汽车。它也可能是为其它的目的而对此基地感兴趣，譬如为了在一个更加符合真实生活的环境里测试汽车技术，而不是一直在实验室里。并且，即使苹果现在能够达到那样的技术水平，也不能保证它会真正发布无人驾驶电动汽车。

　　Autonomous car technology has become a big focus for companies such as Google and Uber, and speculation⁶ about Apple's self-driving car plans have been swirling⁷ for months. The program is believed to be codenamed "Titan" and involve hundreds of engineers. The company has hired people from the automotive industry, including battery experts. In February, A123 Systems, an electric-car battery maker⁸, sued Apple for poaching its employees, saying the company lured⁹ away workers to develop "a large-scale battery division to compete in the very same field as A123." The two companies reached a settlement in May.

　　无人驾驶汽车技术已经成为了谷歌、Uber等很多公司关注的焦点，而关于苹果无人驾驶汽车计划的猜测已发酵数月。据说这个项目的代号是"泰坦（Titan）"，并且汇集了上百名工程师。苹果雇佣了很多来自汽车制造行业的人，其中包括电池方面的专家。二月份，A123 Systems——一个电动汽车电池制造商——控告苹果挖走它的员工，引诱其员工发展“一个大规模电池部门去与A123在同一领域竞争”。两家公司已于五月份达成处理协议。

　　Apple has tasked employees in "an anonymous¹⁰ office building" in Sunnyvale, Calif., about four miles from the company's Cupertino headquarters, with developing automotive technologies, the Guardian said. The company leased the building in 2014, the Guardian said, citing documents, and modified the facility to include labs and workshop spaces, as well as tighter security features.

　　据《卫报》所说，苹果已将该项目的员工分派到了加利福尼亚州森尼维尔市“一个无名的办公建筑里”，距离位于库比蒂诺的苹果总部大约有四英里，在这里，无人驾驶汽车技术正在研制中。《卫报》称，根据那份文件显示的内容，苹果公司在2014年租下这幢建筑，并逐渐在内部安设了实验室、研讨室和更严密的安全设施。

　　Apple, the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world, has worked to expand its technologies to many different sectors¹¹ and become the center of peoples' lives. That already has included cars, even if the company hasn't created a full-blown automobile¹². An update to its iOS mobile software in March 2014 incorporated CarPlay -- a way for the iPhone to power a touch screen on a new car's dashboard. And Jeff Williams, Apple's head of operations, in May called the car "the ultimate mobile device."

　　苹果作为世界第二大手机制造商，已经致力于将它的技术扩展到许多不同的领域并占据人们生活的中心。这些领域中就包括汽车行业——尽管苹果公司还未制造出一台完全成熟的汽车。2014年3月iOS移动软件的一项更新包含了CarPlay—— 一种用iPhone去操控新车仪表盘上的接触式屏幕的方式。苹果运营总监Jeff Williams曾在五月份称汽车是“终极的可移动设备”。

　　Marc Newsom, a designer who has worked with Apple in the past, told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that his design pet-peeve is the automotive industry. "There were moments when cars somehow encapsulated everything that was good about progress," he said. "But right now we're at the bottom of a trough."

　　Marc Newsom是一位曾在苹果工作多年的设计师，就在这周他告诉华尔街日报的记者他在设计中最不能忍受的就是汽车制造行业，他说，“曾经有一段时间汽车包含了人类进步中产生的一切好的事物，但现在正处在低谷期。”

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