十年后，我們將迎來“飛行出租車”時代？
舊金山——飛行汽車正在緩慢地從科幻小說中脫離出來。但這不妨礙一些公司在為飛行出租車服務(wù)做準(zhǔn)備。
A growing collection of tech companies, aircraft manufacturers, automakers and investors are betting that fleets of battery-powered aircraft will give rise to air taxi services, perhaps as soon as the next decade. Some of those taxis, the companies hope, may even use artificial intelligence to fly themselves.
越來越多的科技公司、飛機(jī)制造商、汽車制造商及投資者都在下注：以電池驅(qū)動的飛行器將帶來空中出租車服務(wù)，可能最快在下一個十年就能實現(xiàn)。這些公司希望，這種出租車的一部分甚至可能利用人工智能自行駕駛。
The dealmaking, technology exploration and perhaps wishful thinking around this new sort of flying transportation — please, the companies ask, don’t call them flying cars — are reminiscent of the work done on self-driving cars just a few years ago.
圍繞著這種新型飛行交通工具——這些公司要求，請不要將它們稱為飛行汽車——的并購交易、技術(shù)探索，以及可能的一廂情愿，都不禁讓人想起了短短幾年前在無人駕駛汽車上下的功夫。
No one can say for certain if these new vehicles will turn out to be a real business. But many companies are already worried about being left behind.
沒人能確定這種新型載具是否會成為一個實在的生意。但許多公司已經(jīng)開始擔(dān)心會被甩在后面。
The European aerospace company Airbus said Tuesday that it was making an investment in Blade, an aviation startup in New York, and forming a partnership to expand Blade’s helicopter hailing service in more cities around the world. Last week, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said he expected the ride-hailing company to start flying passengers on a service called Uber Air in five to 10 years.
歐洲航空公司空客(Airbus)周二表示將投資紐約的一家航空初創(chuàng)公司Blade，并與其建立合作伙伴關(guān)系，在全球更多城市擴(kuò)大Blade的直升機(jī)呼叫服務(wù)。優(yōu)步(Uber)的首席執(zhí)行官達(dá)拉·霍斯勞沙希(Dara Khosrowshahi)表示，他預(yù)計這家招車公司會在5到10年內(nèi)推出一個名為“空中優(yōu)步”(Uber Air)的飛行載客服務(wù)。
In November, Boeing acquired Aurora Flight Sciences, a company specializing in flight systems for pilotless aircraft, for an undisclosed sum. Before the acquisition, Aurora had been working with Uber to develop a flying taxi. And Joby Aviation, a startup in Santa Cruz, California, building its own air taxi, said this month that it had raised $100 million in venture funding from a consortium of investors including the venture capital arms of Intel, Toyota Motor and JetBlue Airways.
11月，波音收購了專研無人駕駛飛機(jī)飛行系統(tǒng)的公司極光飛行科學(xué)(Aurora Flight Sciences)，未公開收購金額。在此次收購之前，Aurora公司正與優(yōu)步合作，研發(fā)飛行出租車。而一家正在研發(fā)自己的空中出租車的初創(chuàng)公司——位于加利佛尼亞圣克魯斯的喬比航空(Joby Aviation)本月表示，一個包括英特爾(Intel)、豐田汽車(Toyota Motor)和捷藍(lán)航空(JetBlue Airways)風(fēng)險投資部門在內(nèi)的投資者財團(tuán)已向其注入一億美元風(fēng)險投資。
“This is the natural progression of the vehicles we make,” said Ben Bridge, head of global business for Airbus Helicopters. “We want a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation that is happening.”
“我們的載具制造走到這一步是很自然的，”空客直升機(jī)(Airbus Helicopters)全球業(yè)務(wù)負(fù)責(zé)人本·布里奇(Ben Bridge)說。“我們想擁有一席之地，也想加入這個正在進(jìn)行的對話。”
Flying cars even played a bit role in the recently settled legal fight over trade secrets between Uber and Waymo, the self-driving car service spun out of Google. 甚至在優(yōu)步和Waymo——從谷歌拆分出的無人駕駛汽車服務(wù)商——最近達(dá)成和解的商業(yè)機(jī)密官司中，飛行出租車也扮演了個小角色。
In court testimony this month, Travis Kalanick, Uber’s former chief executive, said he had heard that Larry Page — the chief executive of Waymo’s parent company, Alphabet, who has a side project building new types of aircraft — was upset because Uber was “doing their thing” with flying cars.
在本月的法庭證詞中，優(yōu)步前首席執(zhí)行官特拉維斯·卡蘭尼克(Travis Kalanick)表示，他聽說拉里·佩奇(Larry Page)——Waymo母公司Alphabet首席執(zhí)行官，他另有一個制造新型飛機(jī)的副業(yè)項目——之所以不滿，是因為優(yōu)步在飛行汽車領(lǐng)域“做了他們擅長的事”。
Whatever you imagine a flying car to be — stop. What these companies envision is something like a helicopter but much quieter and more affordable. Think of a hobbyist’s drone, but big enough to fit people. It would, in theory, be welcome in urban environments and affordable to more than well-heeled businesspeople. At least, that’s the dream.
不論你想象的飛行出租車是什么樣——別想了。這些公司所設(shè)想的是某種類似于直升機(jī)，但更安靜、更便宜的東西。想想一個業(yè)余愛好者的無人機(jī)，但大小足夠載人。理論上，這在城市里會很受歡迎，也能讓除富商以外更多的人負(fù)擔(dān)得起。至少，是這么夢想的。
Before there can be too much enthusiasm for these flying taxi services, it’s worth noting that self-driving cars have yet to turn into a notable business for anyone, despite about a decade of research at tech giants like Google and billions in investment from Silicon Valley and the auto industry.
在人們對飛行出租車的熱情泛濫之前，值得一提的是，盡管有著谷歌這些科技巨頭十多年的研究，以及硅谷和汽車產(chǎn)業(yè)上億的投資，目前還沒人能把無人駕駛汽車轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐粋€大型產(chǎn)業(yè)。
Regulators are just starting to agree on rules for large-scale tests of self-driving cars on public roads. How would they deal with flying taxis? The details of the future service are far — very far — from being ironed out. 監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)剛剛才就公共道路上的無人駕駛汽車大規(guī)模測試達(dá)成一致。他們又將如何對待飛行出租車?這項未來服務(wù)的細(xì)節(jié)還遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)沒有解決。
Still, there are some reasons for the new enthusiasm. Battery improvements and the wide use of drones have spawned technological breakthroughs. The taxis would take off and land vertically like a helicopter, so they’d take up less room. Because they would be battery-powered, they would be more environmentally friendly.
但新近再次掀起的熱情也是有些理由的。電池的改進(jìn)和無人機(jī)的廣泛使用催生了技術(shù)突破。飛行出租車可像直升機(jī)一樣垂直起飛、著陸，占用更少空間。因為它們由電池供電，所以也會更加環(huán)保。
For now, Airbus executives hope to gain from Blade’s experience with an app that allows customers to reserve a seat on a helicopter. Airbus is expected to invest up to $15 million in Blade, which would represent about a 10 percent stake in the company, according to a person who is familiar with the transaction but not permitted to discuss the investment details publicly.
現(xiàn)在，空客的高管希望借助Blade的經(jīng)驗，這家公司開發(fā)了一個應(yīng)用，讓顧客可以預(yù)定直升機(jī)上的坐席。據(jù)了解這一交易但不被允許公開討論投資細(xì)節(jié)的知情人士稱，空客對Blade的投資預(yù)計高達(dá)1500萬美元，大約是10%的股份。
Both companies see helicopters as an intermediate step until a new type of aircraft and taxi service hits the market. Rob Wiesenthal, Blade’s chief executive, said a quieter and less expensive alternative to helicopters “opens up a whole new world.”
兩家公司都將直升機(jī)視為新型飛機(jī)和出租車投放市場之前的一個過渡。Blade首席執(zhí)行官羅布·維森塔爾(Rob Wiesenthal)表示，更安靜、更便宜的直升機(jī)替代品“打開了一個全新的世界”。
Airbus said it was preparing for a test flight by year-end for its CityAirbus aircraft, which carries up to four passengers and can reach a cruising speed of about 75 mph. It plans to deploy the CityAirbus in 2023.
空客公司表示，他們正在為CityAirbus(城市空中巴士)在年底之前的試飛做準(zhǔn)備，該飛機(jī)可搭載四名乘客，巡航速度可達(dá)每小時75英里左右(約合每小時120公里)。公司計劃在2023年將CityAirbus投入使用。
