Uber beats Waymo as first to launch robotaxis in London
Uber beats Waymo as first to launch robotaxis in London
Uber 击败 Waymo，率先在伦敦推出自动驾驶出租车服务
Uber beat out Waymo in launching a commercial robotaxi service in London, the city’s first. The vehicles use autonomous driving tech developed by Wayve, a UK-based startup, and will initially feature safety drivers behind the wheel.
Uber 在伦敦率先推出了商业自动驾驶出租车服务，这也是该市的首个此类服务。这些车辆采用了英国初创公司 Wayve 开发的自动驾驶技术，初期阶段驾驶座上仍将配备安全员。
The launch is a milestone for Uber, which has been plotting a UK launch with Wayve for several years. In beating Waymo to the punch, it allows Uber to set the standard for the robotaxi experience for thousands of Londoners. It’s also an early test of whether there’s appetite for driverless ridehailing beyond the US and China, where most of the world’s robotaxis are currently clustered. (There’s a smattering in the Middle East, too.)
此次发布对于 Uber 而言是一个里程碑，该公司与 Wayve 筹划进军英国市场已有数年之久。抢在 Waymo 之前推出服务，使 Uber 能够为成千上万的伦敦市民树立自动驾驶出租车的体验标准。这也是对除美国和中国（目前全球大多数自动驾驶出租车聚集地）之外，市场是否对无人驾驶网约车有需求的一次早期测试。（中东地区也有少量分布。）
London-based Uber customers who want to try out these new robot-controlled cars can indicate their preference in the app’s settings. When booking a ride through UberX, Uber Comfort, or Uber Electric, riders may be paired with a Wayve-developed autonomous vehicle, but it’s not a guarantee. Wayve is using Ford Mustang Mach-Es for its fleet, followed by the Nissan Leaf in the future.
伦敦的 Uber 用户如果想尝试这些由机器人控制的新型车辆，可以在应用程序的设置中表明意愿。当通过 UberX、Uber Comfort 或 Uber Electric 预订行程时，乘客可能会被匹配到 Wayve 开发的自动驾驶车辆，但这并非百分之百保证。Wayve 目前的车队使用福特 Mustang Mach-E，未来还将加入日产 Leaf。
Safety drivers will monitor the driving from the front seat, though Uber says they won’t control the driving and will gradually be phased out in favor of fully driverless vehicles. Safety drivers are licensed by Transport for London, the city’s transit authority.
安全员将在前排监控驾驶过程，不过 Uber 表示他们不会干预驾驶，并将逐步被淘汰，最终实现完全无人驾驶。这些安全员均获得了伦敦交通局（Transport for London）的许可。
Uber says there will be no geofence — the virtual boundary within which robotaxis are programed to operate — because Wayve’s AV2.0 system is designed to move “beyond the constraints of traditional AV systems.” Wayve describes AV2.0 thusly:
Uber 表示，此次服务将不设地理围栏（即自动驾驶出租车被设定运行的虚拟边界），因为 Wayve 的 AV2.0 系统旨在“超越传统自动驾驶系统的限制”。Wayve 对 AV2.0 的描述如下：
The traditional AV1.0 approach relies on hand-engineered stacks, HD maps and a rule-based approach – this limits scalability and the ability to rapidly generalize to new environments or complex scenarios. Wayve’s AV2.0 takes a different path – a single, learned AI driver trained to understand the world, anticipate risk, and adapt to new environments.
传统的 AV1.0 方法依赖于人工设计的堆栈、高清地图和基于规则的方法——这限制了可扩展性以及快速适应新环境或复杂场景的能力。Wayve 的 AV2.0 采取了不同的路径——通过单一的、经过学习的 AI 驾驶员，训练其理解世界、预判风险并适应新环境。
The robotaxis will be maintained and serviced by Uber in partnership with UK fleet operator Otto Car. Wayve will stay in charge of the autonomous driving system.
这些自动驾驶出租车将由 Uber 与英国车队运营商 Otto Car 合作进行维护和保养。Wayve 则继续负责自动驾驶系统。
Wayve, which was founded in 2017 by a pair of machine learning PhD students from the University of Cambridge, says its autonomous driving system can learn on the go, adapting to new roads, weather, or driving scenarios much like a human driver. The vehicles use cameras and radar as part of their perception system — but notably do not use lidar, the laser sensor that Waymo and many other robotaxi operators rely on. This puts Wayve in a similar camp as Tesla, which also doesn’t use lidar for its robotaxis.
Wayve 由两名剑桥大学机器学习博士生于 2017 年创立，该公司表示其自动驾驶系统可以在行驶中学习，像人类驾驶员一样适应新的道路、天气或驾驶场景。这些车辆使用摄像头和雷达作为感知系统的一部分——但值得注意的是，它们不使用激光雷达（Lidar），而 Waymo 和许多其他自动驾驶出租车运营商都依赖这种传感器。这使得 Wayve 与特斯拉处于同一阵营，后者也不在其自动驾驶出租车中使用激光雷达。
Still, Wayve claims its system is hardware agnostic, thanks to a software stack that can run on whatever sensors and chips an automaker uses for its vehicles. While additional sensors like lidar can theoretically be integrated if a car manufacturer prefers them, Wayve’s AV2.0 is built to operate autonomously without HD maps or expensive sensors, the company says. In addition to Uber, Wayve is also working with Stellantis on hands-free driving tech. And earlier this year, the startup raised $1.2 billion from Uber, Nvidia, and Stellantis, as well as Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, according to TechCrunch.
尽管如此，Wayve 声称其系统具有硬件无关性，这得益于其软件堆栈可以在汽车制造商使用的任何传感器和芯片上运行。该公司表示，虽然如果汽车制造商有偏好，理论上可以集成激光雷达等额外传感器，但 Wayve 的 AV2.0 设计初衷就是在没有高清地图或昂贵传感器的情况下实现自动驾驶。除了 Uber，Wayve 还在与 Stellantis 合作开发免提驾驶技术。据 TechCrunch 报道，今年早些时候，这家初创公司从 Uber、英伟达、Stellantis 以及日产和梅赛德斯-奔驰处筹集了 12 亿美元。
Waymo has said it will launch its robotaxis in London before the end of the year. In addition, Lyft is working with China’s Baidu on its own robotaxi service in the city, starting with the neighborhood of Brent.
Waymo 此前表示，将在今年年底前在伦敦推出其自动驾驶出租车。此外，Lyft 正在与中国的百度合作，计划在伦敦推出自己的自动驾驶出租车服务，首站将从布伦特区（Brent）开始。
Uber has been lobbying for a hybrid network made up of human drivers and robotaxis, which clashes with Waymo’s vision of a driver-free, rider-only system. Waymo and Uber still work together in several cities, including Austin and Atlanta, but the companies have increasingly found themselves on opposite sides of the debate — prompting rumors of an imminent breakup. Meanwhile, Uber has made a big to-do about linking up with a variety of AV partners, including Zoox, Avride, Nuro, Motional, Waabi, and of course, Wayve. The company has said it plans on spending upwards of $10 billion to build out its robotaxi business over time.
Uber 一直在游说建立一个由人类驾驶员和自动驾驶出租车组成的混合网络，这与 Waymo 追求的纯无人驾驶、仅限乘客的系统愿景相冲突。Waymo 和 Uber 目前在奥斯汀和亚特兰大等多个城市仍有合作，但两家公司在这一议题上的分歧日益加深，引发了即将分手的传言。与此同时，Uber 大力宣传其与多家自动驾驶合作伙伴的联手，包括 Zoox、Avride、Nuro、Motional、Waabi，当然还有 Wayve。该公司表示，计划在未来投入超过 100 亿美元来打造其自动驾驶出租车业务。