未来的汽车比我们想的还要棒_风闻

【来源龙腾网】

正文原创翻译：

​

The car of the future will be designed by women, built by anyone, and fly over traffic. But what else is motoring over the horizon? 

未来的汽车将由女性设计、由众人制造，并在道路上空飞行。那么，除此之外还有其它的特点吗？

The flying car 

飞行汽车 

It sounds like something from the wildest fringes of fantasy or a particularly speculative edition of the BBC’s late, lamented science series, Tomorrow’s World. But an American aeronautical company, with funding from the US Department of Defense, has developed a flying car that actually can fly and is actually available to buy. The Transition is a four-wheel vehicle, licensed for the road, which transforms into a plane in about 20 seconds and can then fly up to 500 miles. So an owner could take off from Edinburgh, for example, fly to London, fold up the wings, drive home and park in the garage. 

这听起来像来自于最疯狂的幻想边缘，或者一部富有想象力的BBC科学剧——《明日世界》（它的停播令人惋惜）。不过，一家美国航空公司在国防部的资助下，已经开发出一款真的能飞行而且买得到的汽车。Transition（汽车名称，意为变化、过渡）是一款四轮汽车，拿的是陆面道路执照，却可以在约20秒内变身成一架飞机，并飞行最多500英里。所以，举个例子，一位车主可以从爱丁堡出发飞到伦敦，然后收起翅膀，开回家，停在车库里。 

“People tend to smirk when you say you’re trying to make a flying car,” says 42-year-old Carl Dietrich, the Transition’s inventor. “But we’re very serious about producing a flying car and selling it.” 

“当你说自己正在研发一款飞行汽车，人们往往会傻笑，”

Transition的发明者——42岁的卡尔·迪特里希说，“但我们是很认真地在制造并出售飞行汽车。” Dietrich, who has a PhD from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), began developing the Transition in 2006 at the headquarters of his company, Terrafugia, near Woburn, Massachusetts. The first test flights took place in New York state in 2009 and Dietrich expects to deliver a finished product to his first 10 customers next year, with production “ramping up” in 2014. 

迪特里希拥有麻省理工学院（MIT）航空航天部博士学位，其公司Terrafugia的总部位于马萨诸塞州的沃本，他从2006年开始在此研发Transition汽车，2009年在纽约进行了第一次试飞，迪特里希预计明年向第一批的10位客户提供成品，在2014年实现产能提升。 

Of course, the Transition doesn’t come cheap. The starting price is $279,000 (£177,000), slightly less than the cheapest conventional two-seater aircraft and about the same as a supercar such as a Ferrari. Dietrich expects that most purchasers will want the Transition for “recreational purposes” — which probably translates as “showing off”. 

当然，Transition可不便宜。起价为279000美元（177000英镑），稍低于最便宜的传统双座飞机，和一部超级跑车（比如说法拉利）持平。迪特里希期望大部分买家是为了“娱乐性目的” ——意思可能就是“炫耀”。 

Unfortunately, it won’t be of any use to the frustrated motorist stuck in a traffic jam; the Transition needs a proper runway to take off. Nevertheless, Dietrich believes his design will be a useful tool for highly paid salesmen who have to travel large distances between customers.

很不幸，对于堵在路上的焦虑的司机们来说毫无用处；Transition需要一个适合长度的跑道来起飞。不过，迪特里希相信他的这个设计对收入高的推销员来说是件有用的工具，因为他们需要在顾客之间穿梭很长距离。

The ‘flat-pack’ car

“组装”车

原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：MYT 转载请注明出处

Anybody who wants to see what the car of the future might look like should sneak a peek over Gordon Murray’s shoulder as he works at his computer.

想要看看未来的车长的怎么样的人，可以偷偷从戈登.穆雷的背后看一眼，他正在计算机前工作。

Murray, now 66, made his name with Formula One. His designs for Brabham and McLaren in the Eighties won world championships for those teams and their drivers. He then turned his mind to conceiving the most exclusive and fastest road car in the world — the $1 million, 240mph McLaren F1.

穆雷今年66岁，凭一级方程式赛车出名。他在80年代设计的布拉布汉姆和迈凯轮为车队及其赛手夺取了不少冠军。然后他将精力转向构思世界上最独一无二和最快的公路赛车 - 价值100万美元，时速240英里的迈凯轮F1。

But, since 2006, Murray has had something of a Damascene conversion. Sitting in a traffic jam on the A3 one morning, surrounded by big saloon cars going nowhere fast, he suddenly realised the future of driving depended on devising a way of manufacturing small cars at a fraction of the cost that they are made today.

不过，2006年，穆雷历经了一次质的转变。某天上午，他坐在A3车里堵在了路上，四周被慢慢挪动的大轿车包围着。他突然间意识到，汽车的未来应该是设计出一种方法，用比现在造车成本的一小部分的价格生产小型汽车。

The result is the T.27, an ultra-compact electric vehicle. Only 8ft 2in long and 4ft 3in wide, the three-seater T.27 is so tiny that three of them can fit nose-to-the-pavement in a single parking bay and two are able to drive side by side in one lane of traffic, potentially doubling the amount of road space available without building new highways.

付诸实现后的成果是T.27，一辆超级紧凑的电动车。T.27仅有8尺2寸长，4尺3寸宽，配三个座位。它是如此的小，脸朝人行道停摆放的话能在标准停车位里塞进3辆。2辆车并排只占一个车道，因此有潜力在不扩建新公路的情况下成倍增加道路容量。

It’s propelled by a lightweight powertrain and, thanks to special tyres and cutting-edge aerodynamics, uses only 1.12 pence worth of energy per mile, making it the most energy-efficient car in the world.

这辆车靠一个轻量动力系统驱动。由于加装了特别的轮胎和应用了尖端的空气动力学技术，每英里的能耗仅合1.12便士，使之成为世界上能效率最高的汽车。

But what’s really revolutionary about the T.27, and its petrol equivalent, the T.25, is the way they might be made. Up until now, it’s always been easier for manufacturers of large cars – as opposed to small cars – to recoup the money they laid out on their factories. This is because factory costs are the same whether you’re making a small car or a large car, but a large car delivers a much greater profit margin.

但T.27以及它的汽油版T.25最具革命性的地方，是生产它们的方法。直至目前，大型汽车厂商跟小型车相比，回收他们投到工厂资金更加容易。因为无论生产大车还是小车，工厂的成本是一样的。但生产大车提供了更大的利润空间。

Murray has devised a production process that ends this disparity. Called iStream, it has been described as “bringing Ikea’s flat-pack construction to the car industry”. In a nutshell, the chassis is assembled separately from the body and pre-painted body panels are then mechanically fixed to the chassis at the end of the assembly line.

穆雷已设计出一个生产流程，终止了这种差异。这个流程被称为iStream，被形容为“将宜家的组装工艺引进汽车业。“概括起来，就是底盘、车体和预先喷漆的外壳分开加工，最后在流水线末端用机械将车体和外壳拼合起来。

This, Murray claims, allows the factory to be a fifth of the size of a normal car plant and removes the need for skilled workers, thus reducing the cost of setting up a factory by 80 per cent. What’s more, because the process is so simple, the T.25 and T.27 wouldn’t necessarily have to be made by a traditional car brand. Dyson could make them. Or Virgin.

“It’s a really good idea,” says Richard Bremner, associate editor of Autocar magazine. “After 100 years, isn’t it time we came up with a different way of putting cars together?”

The traffic buster

穆雷称，用这种方式可使厂房的大小比普通厂房小五分之四，而且不需要技术工人，从而将建厂的费用减少80%。不仅如此，由于流程异常简单，T.25和T.27不必由传统的汽车品牌厂来生产。连戴森或维京都能生产。（注：Dayson，家庭小电器品牌。Virgin，维珍集团，集团业务范围包括旅游、航空、娱乐业等。）

Bill Ford may occupy the most prominent position in the world from which to survey the cars of the future. Executive chairman of Ford Motor Company, Bill Ford is the 54-year-old great-grandson of Henry Ford and one of the leading seers of the automotive industry.

比尔.福特担任着世界上最显著的职位，从这个职位可以展望到汽车的未来。比尔.福特是亨利.福特的曾孙，54岁的他是汽车工业重要的预言家。

A vegetarian, folk guitarist and taekwondo black belt, when he joined Ford’s main board in 1988, Bill was asked for the sake of the corporation’s image to end his membership of environmental organisations. He refused and, instead, insisted on bringing environmental concerns to the heart of the corporation’s policies.

1988年加入福特的主要董事会时，比尔是一位素食者、民谣吉他手和跆拳道黑带。董事会要求他退出环保组织，以维护公司的形象。他拒绝了，并且坚持把关注环境融入到公司的核心政策。

Under Bill’s influence, half of Ford’s entire research budget has been channelled towards devising more fuel-efficient engines. On top of all this, quite literally, the roof of Ford’s famous River Rouge complex has been planted with acres of oxygen-producing sedum plants, creating the world’s largest roof garden.

在比尔的影响下，福特研究预算的一半被用于研发能源利用率更高的发动机。福特有名的River Rouge建筑群的顶上已经种植了大量产氧的景天属植物，成为世界最大的屋顶花园。

Bill stepped down as CEO in 2006, but, if anything, this has allowed him to explore even more radical ideas. His latest mission is to rid the world of traffic jams.

2006年比尔从CEO职位退下来。不过，这如果有什么不同的话，他可以有更多时间研究出更激进的想法。他最新的任务就是把交通堵塞这个世界难题给解决了。

“Right now there are about seven billion people on the planet and about one billion cars,” he says. “By the middle of this century, there might be nine billion people and two to four billion cars. Those numbers are going to cause commensurately vast problems of jams and congestion.”

“目前，地球上大概有70亿人口，10亿辆车。”他说。“到本世纪中叶，人口将有可能达到90亿，汽车将有20-40亿辆。这些数字将会相应地引起堵塞和拥挤等大问题。”

His solution is a network of wirelessly connected cars that drive themselves and warn each other of accidents or traffic jams. And the idea is not as pie-in-the-sky as it sounds. Google has already invented a self-driving car, a fleet of which have now clocked up a total of 300,000 miles without a single accident.And Ford is involved in a field trial in Germany, spearheaded by Daimler, in which 120 specially equipped cars are driving around the roads of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region, sending each other “status upxes” on road hazards and jams.

他的解决办法通过建立一个无线网络将汽车连接起来，汽车自动驾驶，如果发生车祸或交通堵塞则相互警告。这个想法并不像空中楼阁那般不切实际。Google已经发明了自动驾驶车，而由这种车组成的车队目前已经保持了300,000英里无任何事故的纪录。福特正在德国进行实地测试。由戴姆勒公司牵头，这个测试由120辆特装车组成，在法兰克福-莱茵-美因地区公路上行驶，互相发送有关道路状况和堵塞情况的“ 状态更新信息”

The death of the car salesman

汽车销售商之殇

Tesla Motors, from California’s Silicon Valley, has already earned a place in automotive history for the electric sports cars it’s created. But the world may have an even greater reason to be thankful to Tesla: the company is trying to kill off the traditional car salesman.

位于加州硅谷的特斯拉汽车公司，因其创造的电动赛车而在汽车发展史上拥有一席之地。但世界将会有更大的理由向特斯拉汽车公司致谢：该公司正准备消灭传统的汽车销售商。

原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：MYT 转载请注明出处

Since hiring Apple’s former vice president of real estate, George Blankenship, in 2010, it has been opening stores across the United States that echo the Apple aesthetic.

Apple is generally considered to have revolutionised the computer store with its bright, minimalist venues, its “concierge desks” and its “Genius” shop assistants on hand to solve customers’ computer problems. The Tesla sales staff – none of whom work on commission – are under orders to do something similar.

自从2010年起用苹果的房地产前副总裁布兰肯希普，特斯拉汽车公司一直在全美各地开设具有苹果风格的零售店。苹果公认为对计算机店进行了革命性的改造，诸如明亮、抽象的场所，前台，“天才”般的店员能随时帮顾客解决计算机问题。而特斯拉的销售职员 - 都是不拿提成的 -被指示要做类似的事。

The stores, which will soon be coming to Britain, feature coffee bars, touch-screen “Design your Tesla” displays and an open service bay so customers can watch technicians at work. The aim is to answer visitors’ questions about electric vehicles, but there is no hard sell. “Buying a car is not usually a pleasurable experience,” says spokeswoman Shanna Hendriks. “It’s uncomfortable. There’s pressure to put money down. You’re told, ‘If you put 10 per cent down today, I can offer you a discount’. We don’t say that. Our goal is not necessarily to sell you a car. For the first time ever, we want you to leave a car salesroom with a smile on your face.”

而这种即将来到英国的零售店、特色咖啡酒吧以及“设计属于自己的特斯拉”的触摸屏，都显示出了其开放性服务，这样顾客就能看到正在工作的技术人员们了。这么做的目的是为了解答访客们对于电动车辆的疑问，不过这里绝没有强制推销。“买车通常不会是什么愉快的经历。”女代言人Shanna Hendriks说道，“总有人怂恿你首付定金，这种压力让我很不舒服。有人会告诉你‘如果你今天付10%的首付金的话，我们会给你打折。’但事实上我们从没这么说过。我们并不是一定要你买车。如果这是您第一次来，我们只想您带着笑容离开。”

The woman’s touch

女性的接触

Some visions of the future turn out to be way off the mark, but there is one thing of which we can be absolutely certain: women are going to become increasingly important to the car industry in the next two decades.

对未来的一些展望似乎是偏离了目标，不过我们对一件事相当的确定：在未来二十年中，女性将在汽车工业中扮演日趋重要的角色。

Already women are estimated to be solely responsible for choosing 35 per cent of all new cars in the UK and to have an active role in more than 80 per cent of purchasing decisions. As these figures rise, both here and around the world, manufacturers need cars that reflect female tastes.

据估算，在英国女性独立选择爱车的比例已达到35%，并且她们在80%的消费决断中相当活跃。而随着这些数据的上涨，不仅是这里，世界的厂家都将重视符合女性口味的车型。

General Motors, the manufacturer of Vauxhall cars in Britain and Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick in the United States, already has a woman – Wulin Gaowa – in charge of its new “Advanced” design studio in Shanghai. Volvo caused waves at the Geneva International Motor Show in 2004, when it unveiled a concept car — complete with “ponytail holes” in the headrests – that had been developed by an all-female team of five senior managers and three chief designers.

英国沃克斯豪尔和雪佛兰、美国凯迪拉克和别克的制造商通用汽车，已经有了女性设计师——乌林高娃——她负责在上海的新型设计工作室。当沃尔沃在2004年的日内瓦国际车展中公开了一种新概念车型时，顿时引发了一阵浪潮——包括头靠垫处的“马尾小孔”——这都是由一个女性小组发明的，而这个小组包括五名高层管理和三名首席设计师。

And four years ago, BMW revealed that the latest version of its Z4 sports car had been designed inside and out by two female designers, Nadya Arnaout and Juliane Blasi. The result, says Hilke Schaer, a senior designer at BMW, was a car that was more “human”.

四年前，BMW曾泄露出小道消息说，最新款的Z4跑车已由两名女性设计师——Nadya Arnaout 和 Juliane Blasi 完成了从内到外的一切设计。“至于结果，”BMW高级设计师 Hilke Schaer 说道，“就是一部更加人性化的车了。”

“You spend a lot of time in your car. It’s no longer just a speed machine; it’s a living space, and women are better at designing those ’emotional’ details that make a car more personal.”

“你将在你的车中度过不少时间，因此他不再只是一个帮你赶时间的机器；它是一个生活空间，而在设计这些让车变得更贴近私人的‘充满感情的’细节方面，显然女性会更拿手一些。”

评论翻译

原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：MYT 转载请注明出处

hildavies

The moment that a flying car becomes reality, it’s use will become regulated & restricted to the point of impracticality.

Some might say “Good thing too - just imagine the carange as our low-level airpspace is filled by poorly trained pilots zipping back and forth without traffic lanes to keep them in check.”

The idea of me having a flying car is great, but the idea of lots of other people having one two is much less attractive.

Now, what we really need is the teleporter from Star Trek …

一旦这种会飞的车成为了现实，政府肯定会对他进行管制和限制，甚至会相当夸张。

也许有的人会说“这不也是好事吗——不然想想那该多可怕，在我们的行车空间里突然挤满了横冲直撞的沙包飞行员，而且他们还不用受行车道的控制。”

让我搞一辆会飞的车来确实是不错，不过要是飞车烂大街的话那就没什么意思了。

就目前而言，我觉得星际迷航里那空间传送器要比这货给力多了…

lance551025

I am a man and I like the Z4 but cannot find the desire to own and drive it, there is something not quite right for me. Could that be it is a feminine car? Is there a subconscious resistance?

我是个爷们，我喜欢宝马Z4不过我还是提不起劲去买一辆来开，总感觉似乎有点不适合我。是因为那是一款女性用车，所以我潜意识中才有所抗拒吗？

profevil

By designer do you mean the shaping of the outside or the design of the engine and mechanical structure? Less women are studying engineering.

你是指由设计师设计的外观还是引擎和机械架构？要知道很少有女人去学工程的。

atavist

Why haven’t these obsessive people realised that only qualified pilots are allowed to fly? Handicapped as a car, handicapped as a plane, it’s a laughable transvestite in either role.

这些固执的家伙怎么还没意识到只有合格的驾驶员才被准许飞行？因为开车开飞机而落得残疾的下场？真是可笑的异装癖心理。

mannymantel

Oh dear. What would Clarkson say????

哦，亲爱的，Clarkson会怎么说？？？？（注释：Jeremy Clarkson,世界车评界最有影响力的人。）

inessence

He’d probably say it’s a dog !!

他或许会说它是一只狗！！

Steve Mallard

I’m surprised the authors didn’t mention the Google self-driving car, a vision of the future which is here now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G…

I live a few miles from Google HQ in California and I regularly see the cars on the road, albeit with a (hands-free) human behind the wheel in case anything goes wrong.

The cars are apparently ready for prime-time, just waiting for the traffic laws to change to make them legal.

Imagine going out for a couple of drinks after work, then sitting in the back for a nap as your car takes you home.

I, for one, would buy one like a shot!

我很惊讶作者竟然没有提到谷歌的自动驾驶车，未来的世界的设想在这里：

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G…

我住在离谷歌设在加利福利亚州的总部几英里的地方，所以经常能看见这种车（自动驾驶）在路上跑，尽管有人坐在驾驶座上（没用手操作），但那只是为了防止意外状况的发生。

这种无人驾驶车一直在等待，等待交通法规能允许它们实际运用这个最佳时机。

想象一下吧，当你下班后，喝上几杯，然后在车上睡上一觉，让你的智能车送你回家。、

我们每个人都会拥有一辆，就像没人都有一把枪那么寻常一样！

bigt

The TerraFugia is actually classed as a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). You need a pilots licence to fly one.

The biggest hurdle to a flying car is not the technology. It’s people. Or more to the point, the percentage of idiots in the population.

Specifically, its about your average moron have the basic flying and aerial navigation skills (no the autopilot doesn’t do *everything*) plus the skill and judgement to deal with mid air emergencies, not to mention following air traffic directions (which is one reason why not everyone is a pilot).

Until we have moved on from a society where too many people still drink just a few extra beers then drive off and wrap their car laden with passengers into a tree, or get completely lost more than 5 miles down the road, we will not be ready for flying cars.

Technology can be “ubiquitous” ready and affordable only a few years.

People won’t be ready for about 200 years, if ever.

TerraFugia实际上已经被归入轻型运动类飞机。如果你要驾驶它需要一个飞行员执照。 造飞行汽车的最大阻碍不是科技，是人或者是白痴所占的人口比例。 特别是有基本飞行操作能力和空中导航（自动导航仪不能做所有的事）的白痴的平均数，加上在半空中处理紧急事件的能力和判断力，更别说接下来会遇到的空中交通方向了（这就是为什么不是每个人都是飞行员的原因）。 除非我们搬出这个太多人因为多喝了一点酒就把载满乘客的车撞倒大树上，或者完全迷路并走到离目的地超过五公里地方的社会，不然我们不会准备好飞行汽车。 科技可以让飞行汽车在几年内“无所不在”并且有一个实惠的价格。 人们却用200年也都准备不好，如果有（200年）的话。 

原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻译：MYT 转载请注明出处

wademcinnis

Who wants a human car?

Probably more people than I would like to think.

No more need to attempt communication with chimpanzees - now your car will be your friend. Since you do not like dealing with humans you will have a human-like friend where you can be comfortable while you talk on your phone as traffic builds behind you.

Two very different views of interaction - one, the car does what is asked and the other, the car anticipates what you want it to do.

I worry the supply of the former is quickly disappearing.

谁想要一个智能的车？ 可能不止我有那个想法。 不需要再试着跟黑猩猩交流，现在你的车将会是你的朋友。既然你不喜欢跟人类打交道，你将会有一个类人的朋友，他作为一个交通设备在你身后并可以通过电话轻松的跟你聊天。 有两种很不同的互动意见—— 一、你要求车怎么做它就怎么做。二、他预估你想做什么。 我担心支持前者的人数正在迅速消失。 

iranu

None of this bollocks will come to fruition.

这些胡说八道都不会成为现实。 

inessence

Does it come with semtex ?

那东西装有塑料炸弹吗？

tuquet

He forgot that if only 10% bought this car there then would be a traffic jam in the sky + it only needs a lunatic to get hold of one and you could have a major disaster.

Sorry this solves nothing

这个汽车飞机发明者肯定忘记了，只要有10%的人买了这种车，那就会造成空中交通拥挤+要是一个疯子驾驶它，那么会带来一场重大的灾难。

很抱歉，这种汽车飞机解决不了任何麻烦

inessence

Red tape will suffocate it before it even turns a wheel over here, let alone fly…………………………….And insurance ?#### 

在它甚至还没一个轮子着地之前，估计就要被恶心的官腔做法给扼杀了，还想飞?………. 保险费呢？####

remittance_man

Sadly I suspect this idea will fail for exactly the same reasons previous flying cars have done - most people don’t have a runway in their gardens. Also I’m pretty sure there isn’t a newsagent, off-licence or supermarket in the entire country that offers a runway, traffic control and so on.

This all makes lugging folded wings around a bit of a pain in the derriere. Not to metion highly costly.

我很伤心的怀疑这个创意也会跟之前的飞车一般败于完全相同的原因——没有几个家庭的花园里会有起飞跑道这种东西。另外我也敢肯定整个国家里都没有哪个报刊亭，酒吧，超市会提供飞机跑道，交通管理以及相关的东西。

flookie

When Ford released its first cars they were expensive novelty products; the roads were of variable quality within towns and virtually non-existent outside. Cars being the future was wishful thinking. 

This would be a flying car not a plane; you don’t need a runway in your garden, just a short runway (size of a large carpark) on the edge of town. The cars wouldn’t park there but drive off. Drive between home & runway, fly between remote town/cities. 

当Ford发布他们的收款车时，它们会是昂贵又新颖的产品；在城镇内道路会具有可变属性，而在城外普通道路则可以说不复存在。未来的汽车会是寄托我们希望的产物。当然那是一辆飞翔的汽车而不是飞机；你并不需要在花园里安一段超长的升降跑道，一个设置在城镇边缘的短小（也就是一个大型停车场的大小）跑道就够用了。车会马上起飞而不是停在那里。在家与跑道之间飞驰，在城乡之间飞翔。

lanthalus

Don’t forget your silver suit and the goldfish bowl (to put on your head)

嘿！别忘了你的银质铠甲还有金鱼缸（套头上的）。 

flookie

Jet-pack jay-walkers? :-)

小飞机，横穿马路？:-) 

lincs

I wonder how well it ‘spins’? There are folk I hesitate to get into cars with, no way into an aeroplane-----and I can fly!

我很好奇用它来“兜风”有多棒？我犹豫的和人们一起进了汽车，绝不是一架飞机——我可以飞！