Uber’s Autonomous Vehicle Strategy: Slow Their Adoption
Uber’s Autonomous Vehicle Strategy: Slow Their Adoption
Uber 的自动驾驶策略：放慢它们的普及速度
A decade ago, then-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said he saw autonomous vehicles as an existential threat to the ride-hail company’s business model. “What would happen if we weren’t a part of that future? If we weren’t part of the autonomy thing? Then the future passes us by,” Kalanick told Business Insider. 十年前，时任 Uber 首席执行官的特拉维斯·卡兰尼克（Travis Kalanick）曾表示，他将自动驾驶汽车视为对该公司网约车商业模式的生存威胁。“如果我们不参与那个未来会怎样？如果我们不参与自动驾驶这件事？那么未来就会与我们擦肩而过，”卡兰尼克在接受《商业内幕》（Business Insider）采访时说道。
In the years since, Uber has settled on a strategy that, rather than see it build and operate its own self-driving cars, puts it on track to become the place where riders can get connected with any ride, driven by a human or robot. “We think there are going to be many AV players around the world, and we want to be the go-to commercial platform for all of them,” now-CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told investors in 2024. Since then, the company has signed agreements with more than 25 major robotaxi players, with driverless vehicles from Waymo, Nuro, Baidu, and Volkswagen’s MOIA either available or soon to be available on the Uber app in several global cities. 此后的几年里，Uber 确定了一项战略：不再自行研发和运营自动驾驶汽车，而是致力于成为一个连接乘客与任何车辆（无论是人类驾驶还是机器人驾驶）的平台。现任首席执行官达拉·科斯罗萨西（Dara Khosrowshahi）在 2024 年告诉投资者：“我们认为全球将会有许多自动驾驶汽车参与者，我们希望成为所有这些参与者的首选商业平台。”自那时起，该公司已与超过 25 家主要的自动驾驶出租车（Robotaxi）运营商签署了协议，来自 Waymo、Nuro、百度以及大众汽车旗下 MOIA 的无人驾驶车辆，已在或即将于全球多个城市的 Uber 应用中上线。
Now, according to documents viewed by WIRED and another obtained through a public records request, Uber’s lobbyists are pushing to build that strategy into law. The company’s representatives have pressed lawmakers to deploy autonomous vehicles on what it calls “hybrid networks,” where human drivers work alongside robots as the new tech grows. 现在，根据《连线》（WIRED）查阅的文件以及通过公共记录请求获得的其他资料显示，Uber 的游说者们正在推动将这一战略转化为法律。该公司代表已向立法者施压，要求在所谓的“混合网络”中部署自动驾驶汽车，即随着新技术的增长，人类驾驶员与机器人将并肩工作。
In New Jersey, a lobbyist representing Uber took the strategy a step further, circulating legislative language that would, for a period of three years, require any platform offering driverless ride-hailing services to have human drivers serve 85 percent of its rides. 在新泽西州，一名代表 Uber 的游说者将这一策略更进一步，散发了一份立法草案。该草案要求在三年内，任何提供无人驾驶网约车服务的平台，其 85% 的行程必须由人类驾驶员完成。
The language would likely prevent self-driving vehicle developers, including Waymo, Zoox, and Tesla, from operating their own ride-hail apps in the state—effectively forcing them onto another ride-hail app if they hope to enter the market and limiting competition for Uber, the country’s reigning ride-hail leader. 这一条款可能会阻止包括 Waymo、Zoox 和特斯拉在内的自动驾驶汽车开发商在该州运营自己的网约车应用——如果他们希望进入该市场，实际上将迫使他们接入其他网约车平台，从而限制了作为美国网约车行业领头羊 Uber 的竞争对手。
A representative for Uber pitched a version of the proposal to New Jersey state senator Andrew Zwicker, according to his chief of staff, Ayla Rios. Zwicker is the sponsor of a bill currently being considered by the state legislature that would establish New Jersey’s first set of rules governing self-driving cars on public roads. The Uber lobbyists’ proposed language restricting standalone robotaxi-hailing apps is not currently part of the bill, which could come up for a vote this fall. 据新泽西州参议员安德鲁·兹威克（Andrew Zwicker）的幕僚长艾拉·里奥斯（Ayla Rios）称，一名 Uber 代表曾向兹威克推销过该提案的一个版本。兹威克目前正在推动一项由州议会审议的法案，旨在建立新泽西州首套公共道路自动驾驶汽车管理规则。Uber 游说者提出的限制独立自动驾驶出租车应用的相关条款目前尚未纳入该法案，该法案可能会在今年秋季进行投票。
The New Jersey bill is the first proposed in the nation that would limit the operation of Tesla’s robotaxis, because it requires AV developers to use multiple sensors to power its software, rather than just cameras, as Tesla’s technology does. It would also require vehicles to be operated in emergencies using steering wheels and brake pedals, which purpose-built robotaxis like those from Zoox do not have. 这项新泽西州的法案是全美首个限制特斯拉自动驾驶出租车运营的提案，因为它要求自动驾驶开发商使用多种传感器来驱动软件，而不是像特斯拉技术那样仅依赖摄像头。它还要求车辆在紧急情况下必须能够通过方向盘和刹车踏板进行操作，而像 Zoox 这种专门设计的自动驾驶出租车并不具备这些装置。
In Washington, DC, where autonomous vehicle developers, including Waymo, are engaged in a pitched, months-long battle to allow robotaxi services to operate in the district, Uber representatives also sought to ensure that “hybrid networks” would be the future of ride-hail. 在华盛顿特区，包括 Waymo 在内的自动驾驶开发商正进行着一场长达数月的激烈博弈，试图获准在特区运营自动驾驶出租车服务。与此同时，Uber 的代表也试图确保“混合网络”成为网约车行业的未来。
A bill introduced by city council member Charles Allen in April would allow driverless services on DC’s public roads under certain conditions. In an email sent more than a week before the introduction of the legislation and obtained by WIRED through a public records request, Uber lobbyist LáVita Gardner thanked an Allen staffer for committing to allowing ride-hail companies like Uber to participate in the district’s autonomous vehicle program. “Allowing for hybrid networks will be critical for a smooth transition that supports both technology and human drivers,” Gardner wrote. (The DC bill will be the subject of a hearing on Monday, and has not yet come up for a vote.) 市议员查尔斯·艾伦（Charles Allen）于四月提出的一项法案，允许在特定条件下在华盛顿特区的公共道路上提供无人驾驶服务。在法案提出前一周多，Uber 游说者拉维塔·加德纳（LáVita Gardner）在通过公共记录请求获得的一封电子邮件中，感谢了艾伦的一名工作人员承诺允许像 Uber 这样的网约车公司参与特区的自动驾驶项目。“允许混合网络对于支持技术和人类驾驶员的平稳过渡至关重要，”加德纳写道。（该法案将于周一举行听证会，目前尚未进行投票。）
In a written statement to WIRED, Uber spokesperson Noah Edwardsen says that the company supports the expansion of autonomous vehicle technology, but that policy proposals from the AV industry have been “largely unworkable” because they have failed to address workers’ issues and or “have tried to cynically lock out competitors and create monopolies.” Edwardsen says that the industry’s failure to pass autonomous vehicle regulations in several states this year, including Maryland and New York, is evidence that “clearly it’s time to try a different approach.” Uber 发言人诺亚·爱德华森（Noah Edwardsen）在给《连线》的书面声明中表示，公司支持自动驾驶技术的发展，但自动驾驶行业提出的政策建议“大多不可行”，因为它们未能解决工人的问题，或者“试图以愤世嫉俗的方式排挤竞争对手并建立垄断”。爱德华森表示，该行业今年在马里兰州和纽约州等多个州未能通过自动驾驶法规，这证明“显然是时候尝试一种不同的方法了”。
Edwardsen says the New Jersey proposal was “a compromise we thought could help get something across the finish line” given labor unions’ opposition to the autonomous vehicle bill. He says Uber is fighting in Washington, DC to guarantee that ride-hail companies can participate in the proposed autonomous vehicle program alongside AV companies that run their own apps. “Both the New Jersey and DC proposals that we’ve opposed have elements that would reduce AV competition,” he says. 爱德华森称，鉴于工会对自动驾驶法案的反对，新泽西州的提案是“我们认为有助于推动法案最终通过的一种妥协”。他表示，Uber 正在华盛顿特区争取确保网约车公司能够与运营自有应用的自动驾驶公司一起，参与拟议的自动驾驶项目。“我们所反对的新泽西州和华盛顿特区的提案中，都包含会削弱自动驾驶竞争的因素，”他说。
In a written statement, Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher says the company “does not support efforts to limit AVs to specific types of networks, and we would welcome changes clarifying that different types of networks can operate.” Waymo 发言人伊桑·泰彻（Ethan Teicher）在书面声明中表示，该公司“不支持将自动驾驶汽车限制在特定网络类型的做法，我们欢迎那些明确不同类型网络均可运营的修改建议。”
Zoox didn’t respond to a request for comment. Zoox 未回应置评请求。
Waymo and Uber are business partners, with Uber offering exclusive access to driverless Waymo rides through its app in Atlanta and Austin. But evidence of a strained relationship has leaked into public in past months, as Business Insider has reported. In late April, Uber CTO Praveen Neppalli posted on X a video of what he called a “scary Waymo moment,” when one of the company’s self-driving vehicles appeared to come close to hitting a public bus. Waymo and Uber discontinued a more limited pilot partnership in Phoenix last month. Waymo 和 Uber 是商业合作伙伴，Uber 在亚特兰大和奥斯汀通过其应用提供 Waymo 无人驾驶乘车的独家入口。但据《商业内幕》报道，过去几个月里，双方关系紧张的迹象已公开化。四月下旬，Uber 首席技术官普拉文·内帕利（Praveen Neppalli）在 X 上发布了一段视频，称其为“可怕的 Waymo 时刻”，视频中 Waymo 的一辆自动驾驶汽车似乎差点撞上一辆公共汽车。上个月，Waymo 和 Uber 终止了在凤凰城的一项规模较小的试点合作。
Waymo leads the driverless vehicle race in the US. It says it provides 500,000 rides per week in eleven metros, and plans to expand to even… Waymo 在美国的无人驾驶汽车竞赛中处于领先地位。该公司表示，其在 11 个大都市区每周提供 50 万次乘车服务，并计划进一步扩展……