MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google, a leader in effortsto create driverless cars, has run into an odd safety conundrum: humans.
加利福尼亚州山景城——作为无人驾驶汽车研发领域的领头羊， 谷歌(Google) 遇到了一个奇怪的安全难题：人类。
L ast month, as one of Google ’s self-driving cars approached a crosswalk, it did
what it wassupposed to do when it slowed to allow a pedestrian to cross, prompting its “safety driver ” toapply the brakes. The pedestrian was fine, but not
so much Google ’s car, which was hit frombehind by a human-driven sedan.
上月，当谷歌的一辆自动驾驶汽车来到人行横道前时，它像设想的那样放慢速度让一 名行人
先行，促使“安全驾驶员”启动刹车。那个行人没事，但谷歌那辆车却没那么幸运。 它被后面的一辆由人驾驶的轿车追尾了。
Google ’s fleet of autonomous test cars is programmed to follow the letter of the law. But it canbe tough to get around if you are a stickler for the rules. One
Google car, in a test in 2009,couldn ’t get through a four-way stop because its sensors kept waiting for other (human)drivers to stop completely and let it go. The
human drivers kept inching forward, looking for theadvantage — paralyzing Google’s robot.
按照设计，谷歌的自动测试车会严格遵守法律条文。但如果拘泥于规则，上路可能都 会变得困难。在 2009 年的一次测试中，谷歌的车没能通过一个十字路口，因为它的传感
器一直在等着其他(人类)司机彻底停下来，让它过去。但其他司机一直在向前蹭，寻有 利时机。这种情况让谷歌的机器人陷入了瘫痪。
It is not just a Google issue. Researchers in the fledgling field of autonomous vehicles say thatone of the biggest challenges facing automated cars is blending
theminto a world inwhichhumans don ’t behave by the book. “The real problem is that the caris too safe,” said DonaldNorman, director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego, who studiesautonomous vehicles.
这不仅仅是谷歌面临的问题。自动化车辆这一新兴领域的研究人员称，自动车面临的 最大挑战之一是让它们融入一个人类不照章行事的世界。“真正的问题是，这些车太追求 安全了，”研究自动车辆的加州大学圣迭戈分校设计实验室 (Design L ab at the University
of California, San Diego) 主任唐纳德·诺曼 (Donald Norman) 说。
“They have to learn to be aggressive in the right amount, and the right amount depends onthe culture. ”
“它们得学会适度强硬，而什么叫做适度则取决于不同的文化。”
Traffic wrecks and deaths could well plummet in a world without any drivers, as someresearchers predict. But wide use of self-driving cars is still many years
away, and testers arestill sorting out hypothetical risks — like hackers — and real world challenges, like whathappens when an autonomous car breaks down on the
highway.
正如一些研究人员预言的那样，世界上如果没有驾驶员，交通事故造成的伤亡会大大 减少。然而，广泛使用自动驾驶汽车仍是多年后的事，测试人员仍在应对像黑客这种假设 的风险和现实世界里的挑战，比如自动驾驶车辆在公路上出故障了应该怎么办。
For now, there is the nearer-term problem of blending robots and humans.
Already, cars fromseveral automakers have technology that can warn or even take
over for a driver, whetherthrough advanced cruise control or brakes that apply themselves.
Uber 无人驾驶汽车is working on the self-driving car technology, and Google expanded its tests in July to Austin, T ex.
目前，让机器人和人类同时上路这个问题更紧迫。多家汽车生产商的车辆已经掌握了 警告或是代替驾驶员的技术， 不管是通过先进的巡航控制， 还是可以自行启动的刹车。 Uber 正在研发自动驾驶汽车技术，谷歌也于今年 7 月把测试扩展到了德克萨斯州的奥斯汀。
Google cars regularly take quick, evasive maneuvers or exercise caution in ways that are atonce the most cautious approach, but also out of step with the
other vehicles on the road.
谷歌汽车通常会迅速采取回避操作，或是谨慎行事。后者立即会变成最谨慎的应对方 式，但同时也将导致与路上其他车辆格格不入。
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