Smart Wheels
未来智能轮胎
Ya?l: My car is stupid, Don.
Don: What do you mean, Ya?l?
Y：I turn the key, the engine ignites. I turn the steering wheel, the wheels move. And that’s it!
D: Well, what you expect? That’s how a car works.
Y：I know, but cars are so rigidly mechanical, you know, it’s like when we removed the horses to make horseless carriages; they took away the only intelligent part of the carriages!
D: So you want to go back to the horse-baggage days?
Y：No, but it would be cool, if cars are more intelligent.
D: You mean like be able to sense things and react to them, like a horse mind?
Y：Right, actually there are designers and engineers at MIT working on a new kind of three-wheeled car–a new kind of wheel actually. It’s a sort of “smart” wheel that contains most of the mechanical parts of the car–drive train, suspension, and braking. And the wheels have artificial intelligence–they can sense obstructions and potholes in the road. And since these smart wheels can communicate with each other, they could allow cars in cities to move in flocks, like birds or sheep. Also, the wheels can turn 360 degrees, so the car can move in any direction.
D: That sounds kind of futurist. Do these kinds of cars actually exist?
Y：Sort of, there are computer models and prototypes, but it’s not like you can buy one at a car dealership.
D: Well, let me know when you can.
Ya?l: Don，我的汽车真“笨”。
Don: Ya?l，你什么意思？
Y：我拧车钥匙，引擎发动。我转方向盘，轮胎转动。就是这样。
D:汽车都是这样呀，你还想怎么样呢？
Y：我明白，可是这也太机械化了吧。我们用汽车代替马车，但是却卸下了马车唯一智能的部分。
D:那么，你想回到马车时代？
Y：我不想，要是汽车能更智能就太好了！
D:你是说能像马一样识别事物并做出反应？
Y：没错，事实上，麻省理工学院的设计师和工程师已经在研究一种新型三轮车。这是种车的“智能”轮胎具备大部分汽车的机械部分功能——驱动系统、悬置系统、制动系统。轮胎人工智能：能识别障碍物和道路的坑洼。另外，智能轮胎能相互交流，让车子像鸟和羊一样成群结队。轮胎还能360度转弯，这样车可以向任何方向移动。
D:这听起来很前卫，这种车确实存在吗？
Y：算吧，已经有计算机模型和汽车原型了，但是想在车行买到可能还不太现实。
D:那么，可以的时候别忘了告诉我。 |