TechCrunch Mobility: Blue-green is the color of autonomy

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U.S. federal safety regulators continue to tackle the sticky problem of autonomous vehicles, this time with a proposal that could signal to the public, quite literally, when a vehicle is operating autonomously. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed new lighting requirements for autonomous vehicles that include an option (dare I say a strong suggestion?) to use cyan-colored lights to signal when a vehicle is operating autonomously without a human occupant monitoring the road.

美国联邦安全监管机构继续致力于解决自动驾驶汽车这一棘手问题，此次提出的一项提案可能从字面上向公众发出信号，告知车辆何时处于自动驾驶状态。美国国家公路交通安全管理局（NHTSA）为自动驾驶汽车提出了新的照明要求，其中包括一项建议（甚至可以说是强烈暗示），即在车辆处于无人监控的自动驾驶状态时，使用青色灯光进行提示。

The agency is not proposing a mandate for blue-green lights. Importantly, under the proposal, the lights would be used when an AV is operating in autonomous mode. Still, federal regulators are clearly seeking some uniform way of identifying autonomous vehicles. The proposal establishes equipment specifications, including where the lights are mounted, the color they emit, and how they’re activated. It would also remove requirements for manually operated controls for turn signals, high beams, and hazard lights.

该机构并未强制要求使用蓝绿色灯光。重要的是，根据该提案，这些灯光仅在自动驾驶汽车处于自动驾驶模式时使用。尽管如此，联邦监管机构显然正在寻求一种识别自动驾驶汽车的统一方式。该提案确立了设备规格，包括灯光的安装位置、发光颜色以及激活方式。它还将取消对转向灯、远光灯和危险警示灯手动控制装置的要求。

Under the proposal, the NHTSA suggests the lights be cyan (blue-green), remain steadily illuminated rather than flash, and be visible from the front, rear, and both sides. This latest proposal is one piece of a bigger effort to update regulations that help speed up the adoption of AVs while maintaining safety, according to NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison.

根据该提案，NHTSA 建议灯光应为青色（蓝绿色），保持常亮而非闪烁，并能从前方、后方和两侧清晰可见。NHTSA 局长乔纳森·莫里森（Jonathan Morrison）表示，这一最新提案是更新法规以在保持安全的同时加速自动驾驶汽车普及这一更大努力的一部分。

The agency is already working on a federal automated vehicle framework and is trying to update federal motor vehicle safety standards, which already govern automakers today. For instance, FMVSS rules were not designed for vehicles like the Tesla Cybercab and Zoox robotaxi, which lack traditional, federally required equipment like pedals, steering wheels, and design features like side mirrors and rearview mirrors.

该机构目前正在制定联邦自动驾驶汽车框架，并试图更新现有的联邦机动车安全标准（FMVSS），这些标准目前正约束着汽车制造商。例如，FMVSS 规则并非为特斯拉 Cybercab 和 Zoox 自动驾驶出租车这类车辆设计，因为它们缺乏踏板、方向盘以及侧视镜和后视镜等联邦法规要求的传统设备。

While the feds wrestle over regulating the future of transportation, GM laid out how it plans to be part of it. The automaker held its annual GM Forward event, and a lot of what was announced builds on last year’s push into AI. But now we have more details and dates. The U.S. automaker is overhauling the electrical and computational guts of its future vehicles in a bid to deliver faster software, more capable automated driving features, and a custom, conversational AI assistant that will change its 30-year-old OnStar service.

在联邦政府为交通未来监管问题争论不休的同时，通用汽车（GM）阐述了其参与其中的计划。这家汽车制造商举办了年度“GM Forward”活动，宣布的许多内容都建立在去年对人工智能的投入之上，但现在我们有了更多的细节和时间表。这家美国汽车制造商正在对其未来车辆的电气和计算核心进行彻底改造，旨在提供更快的软件、更强大的自动驾驶功能，以及一个将改变其拥有 30 年历史的 OnStar 服务的定制化对话式 AI 助手。

This technological overhaul is set to debut in 2028 with the Cadillac Escalade IQ. The company will also roll out an autonomous highway driving feature in 2028 that will allow drivers to have their hands and eyes off the road and without the need to be ready to take over. GM has also adopted enterprise AI across the company to slash its traditional four- to five-year development timeline in half.

这项技术升级预计将于 2028 年随凯迪拉克 Escalade IQ 首次亮相。该公司还将在 2028 年推出一项高速公路自动驾驶功能，允许驾驶员在行驶过程中解放双手和双眼，且无需随时准备接管车辆。通用汽车还在全公司范围内采用了企业级人工智能，将其传统的四到五年开发周期缩短了一半。

I have been around long enough to remember previous efforts at GM and other legacy automakers, all of which were interpreted as a bid to compete with Tesla. This time, GM seems to be preparing for a bigger fight. Deals! Image Credits: Bryce Durbin. AI startups are getting snapped up across industries, including transportation. The latest example is Rivian’s acquisition of Third Dimension, a U.K. startup founded by veterans of the gaming and autonomous vehicle industries that uses AI to turn images and videos into lifelike 3D worlds.

我从业时间足够长，还记得通用汽车和其他老牌汽车制造商之前的努力，当时这些努力都被解读为与特斯拉竞争的尝试。这一次，通用汽车似乎在为一场更大的战斗做准备。交易！图片来源：Bryce Durbin。人工智能初创公司正在各行各业被收购，包括交通领域。最新的例子是 Rivian 收购了英国初创公司 Third Dimension，该公司由游戏和自动驾驶行业的资深人士创立，利用人工智能将图像和视频转化为逼真的 3D 世界。

This is all about simulation, and specifically the idea of taking driving data and bringing it into a virtual world that matches the physical world. Rivian’s head of autonomy, James Philbin, told me the company knew it needed a technology that could close the “sim-to-real gap,” meaning the data gap between real and simulated environments. Students of the AV industry will likely shout “Simulation is so 2017!” And yes, that’s true, simulation is a tool AV developers have relied on and continue to do so.

这一切都与仿真有关，具体来说，就是将驾驶数据引入一个与物理世界相匹配的虚拟世界。Rivian 自动驾驶负责人詹姆斯·菲尔宾（James Philbin）告诉我，公司意识到需要一种能够缩小“仿真到现实差距”（sim-to-real gap）的技术，即真实环境与仿真环境之间的数据差距。自动驾驶行业的学生可能会大喊：“仿真已经是 2017 年的技术了！”是的，确实如此，仿真一直是自动驾驶开发者依赖并持续使用的工具。

The technology behind simulation continues to evolve, and startups like Third Dimension are ripe for the picking. The terms of the deal weren’t released. There are a few clues for what size of deal this may have been. Third Dimension previously raised a $7 million seed round, and it has about 15 engineers, and Rivian didn’t disclose this in an SEC filing (meaning it didn’t hit the bar for material information).

仿真背后的技术在不断演进，像 Third Dimension 这样的初创公司正成为收购目标。交易条款未予披露。关于交易规模，有一些线索：Third Dimension 此前筹集了 700 万美元的种子轮融资，拥有约 15 名工程师，且 Rivian 未在 SEC 文件中披露此项交易（意味着它未达到重大信息披露标准）。

Other deals that got my attention … Ride-hailing company inDrive, known for letting passengers and drivers negotiate fares, is working with Chinese autonomous driving firm Pony.ai and Nvidia to begin testing robotaxis in Kazakhstan in 2027. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore bringing Pony.ai’s robotaxis to inDrive’s platform.

其他引起我注意的交易……以允许乘客和司机协商车费而闻名的网约车公司 inDrive，正与中国自动驾驶公司小马智行（Pony.ai）及英伟达合作，计划于 2027 年在哈萨克斯坦开始测试自动驾驶出租车。这些公司已签署谅解备忘录，探索将小马智行的自动驾驶出租车引入 inDrive 平台。

Reliable Robotics, a startup trying to commercialize autonomous flying technology that can be installed on existing aircraft, raised $115 million. The Series D extension round included $90 million in equity funding led by Nimble Partners and $25 million in debt from Silicon Valley Bank. The Series D round now totals $275 million and has pushed the startup’s valuation beyond the $1 billion mark.

致力于将可安装在现有飞机上的自动驾驶飞行技术商业化的初创公司 Reliable Robotics 筹集了 1.15 亿美元。此次 D 轮融资扩展包括由 Nimble Partners 领投的 9000 万美元股权融资，以及来自硅谷银行的 2500 万美元债务融资。D 轮融资总额现已达到 2.75 亿美元，使该初创公司的估值超过了 10 亿美元大关。

Notable reads and other tidbits. Image Credits: Bryce Durbin. A group fighting robotaxis has some mysterious origins, the Washington Post reported. This reminds me of another anti-robotaxi group that I dug into earlier this summer called Coalition for Accountability and Road Safety, which was canvassing voters and posting on social media. My reporting discovered that the organization was registered to an employee of a New York lobbying firm that has previously been retained by several labor unions and the New York Black Car Operators’ Injury Compensation Fund.

值得阅读的内容及其他花絮。图片来源：Bryce Durbin。《华盛顿邮报》报道称，一个反对自动驾驶出租车的组织有着神秘的背景。这让我想起今年夏天我调查过的另一个反自动驾驶出租车组织，名为“问责与道路安全联盟”（Coalition for Accountability and Road Safety），该组织当时正在游说选民并在社交媒体上发帖。我的调查发现，该组织的注册人是一家纽约游说公司的员工，该公司此前曾受雇于多个工会和纽约黑车运营商伤害赔偿基金。

GM is closing a plant south of Detroit that assembled battery packs for Cadillac’s flagship EV, the Celestiq, and both electric drive units and battery packs for the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray. The closure is not related to GM’s electric vehicle strategy.

通用汽车正在关闭底特律南部的一家工厂，该工厂负责组装凯迪拉克旗舰电动汽车 Celestiq 的电池组，以及插电式混合动力雪佛兰 Corvette E-Ray 的电驱动单元和电池组。此次关闭与通用汽车的电动汽车战略无关。