讓一輛以時速210KM飛馳的大馬力奧迪RS7跑車，在無人控制——“脫手脫腳”（手不在方向盤上，腳不在剎車板上）的情況在下坡賽道急轉(zhuǎn)彎處緊急制動，與在車水馬龍的城市中心尋找停車位自助泊車，這兩件事看上去似乎是風(fēng)馬牛不相及。但事實上這兩者之間確有關(guān)聯(lián)。
這其中的聯(lián)系，就是自動駕駛技術(shù)。
最近，在西班牙巴塞羅納附近的Castelloli賽道上，奧迪總裁Rupert Stadler教授和他的專家組向包括《SAE 汽車工程雜志》在內(nèi)的少數(shù)媒體展示了奧迪在自動駕駛領(lǐng)域的實力和一些研發(fā)項目。在現(xiàn)階段，這些技術(shù)還需證明，它們不僅可以在高速行駛中避免人為錯誤，而且還有更大的潛力，可以為城市交通和“智能城市”的發(fā)展帶來極大的便利和更低的成本。
為了證明這一點，奧迪進行了大量的投入。據(jù)Stadler介紹，“未來5年內(nèi)，我們將在自動駕駛領(lǐng)域投資大約240億歐元，其中70%至80%將直接用于自動駕駛技術(shù)和產(chǎn)品的研發(fā)。”很大程度上，自動駕駛技術(shù)和產(chǎn)品的進步都將為自動駕駛系統(tǒng)和自動駕駛車輛的未來鋪平道路，而這終將為人們的出行方式帶來前所未有的變革。
不過，為了實現(xiàn)這些潛力，汽車行業(yè)必須繼續(xù)拓寬、加深各學(xué)科間的整合，現(xiàn)在的整合程度還遠遠不夠。Stadler將這一過程稱為“情境驅(qū)動創(chuàng)新(Context driven innovations)”，不但包括實現(xiàn)智能交通管理所必需的的交通設(shè)施和道路的設(shè)計，還涉及城市區(qū)域規(guī)劃、建筑建設(shè)，以及地方和國家政府管理等方方面面的問題。要發(fā)展智能城市，這些元素都必不可少。
下一代奧迪A8能力驚人
奧迪是積極參與“智能城市”建設(shè)的先鋒。這家德國汽車制造商深知城市生活的核心在于移動性，沒有智能移動系統(tǒng)就根本談不上智能城市。2010年，奧迪發(fā)起了“奧迪城市未來倡議(Audi Urban Future Initiative)”，旨在做好準(zhǔn)備，以應(yīng)對未來全球的新興大都市對智能交通系統(tǒng)的需求。奧迪甚至在非常早期的階段，就與數(shù)位有能力預(yù)見2050年城市面貌的優(yōu)秀設(shè)計師進行了接洽。
Stadler表示，每座城市都是不同的，這對汽車行業(yè)無疑是很大的挑戰(zhàn)，但也同時能為設(shè)計師和工程師帶來更多機會。Stadler深信，能實現(xiàn)碳中和(CO2-neutral)交通運輸方式，一定會變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實。他斷言，“這只是時間問題，當(dāng)然我們需要進行正確的可行性分析。”
如果奧迪能夠通過數(shù)字化技術(shù)整合所有傳感器、攝像頭和激光控制解決方案，推出類似自動駕駛和自動泊車的技術(shù)（奧迪為了強調(diào)駕駛員對車輛控制與安全負有最終的責(zé)任，將其稱為“領(lǐng)航”駕駛和“領(lǐng)航”停車），就能為提升城市居民的生活質(zhì)量做出巨大貢獻。
Stadler坦言，奧迪必須尋求“合適的合作伙伴”。據(jù)預(yù)計，到21世紀(jì)中期，在很多國家，70%的人將選擇步行、騎車或搭乘公共交通出行，而不是駕駛汽車。但Stadler對此并不擔(dān)心。他相信，汽車，包括豪車品牌，仍將擁有自己的市場。
Stadler表示，“比如，汽車在中國就被視為‘自由的象征’。我堅信隨著數(shù)字化技術(shù)的不斷發(fā)展，未來各種出行方式的互聯(lián)性都會有很大提升，而現(xiàn)在就開始開發(fā)新技術(shù)的公司，未來定會處于領(lǐng)先地位。”
奧迪的下一代A8可以在政策允許且擁有配套基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的國家內(nèi)，為車主提供領(lǐng)航停車和自動公路駕駛功能。Stadler也已證實，奧迪的其他車型也會在2017到2018年配備類似功能。駕駛員終有一天可以直接下車，然后讓汽車自己去找車位，或者停在遠離繁忙城市中心的地方。
由于自動泊車并不設(shè)計乘員上下車的問題，無需打開車門，因此能停入更窄的車位之中。城市規(guī)劃者認為這種技術(shù)最高可使車位面積縮小60%，從而騰出大量車位用地，以作他用。
Stadler相信，“未來的停車場里肯定有各種各樣的車，并非僅有常見的城市車輛。”
大數(shù)據(jù)的作用
目前，奧迪已經(jīng)參與了數(shù)個“智能城市”建設(shè)項目，其中一個位于波士頓附近的薩默維爾市。去年年底，波士頓市的市長Joseph A. Curtatone與Stadler簽署了一份聯(lián)合諒解備忘錄，達成共識，將進行密切合作，為薩默維爾市聯(lián)合廣場 (Union Square) 區(qū)域設(shè)計全新的交通運輸布局。Stadler表示，“我們希望能夠提出一個新的城市概念，為日后的智能城市發(fā)展提供藍圖。”
Stadler認為，這份合約將帶領(lǐng)奧迪進入一個全新的王國，這在過去可能會讓人覺得荒誕可笑，但是，這卻是奧迪，甚至整個汽車行業(yè)必須前進的方向。
他表示，“由于汽車會造成交通阻塞，浪費寶貴的時間，因此部分民眾認為，汽車已不再是適合城市生活的智能解決方案。事實上，通過我們的解決方案，汽車將達到前所未有的‘智能’水平。”奧迪認為，如果能實現(xiàn)“消除汽車在行駛和停放時對城市帶來的影響”這一戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)，個人出行將成為一件樂事，而不是一種負擔(dān)。
Stadler解釋說，在傳統(tǒng)行業(yè)中，體量越大，占據(jù)的市場份額就越大。但在網(wǎng)絡(luò)或平臺的概念中，情況正好相反：“大數(shù)據(jù)就是一種集合大量信息，從而達到精確結(jié)論的過程，參與者越多，服務(wù)水平和市場接受度就越高。目前，汽車仍屬于傳統(tǒng)行業(yè)，但我們將逐步將其轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橥ㄟ^平臺擴張的模式。”Stadler如是說。
去年，奧迪聯(lián)合梅賽德斯-奔馳(Mercedes-Benz)和寶馬（BMW），一起從諾基亞(Nokia)收購了數(shù)字地圖公司HERE。這幾家公司希望能向所有對象開放這個數(shù)字地圖平臺，其中也包括各個城市。
他表示，群體智能(swarm intelligence)將“改變城市的面貌和行為”，“有人認為城市化會將駕駛車輛的出行方式帶入死胡同，我卻認為城市化將會開啟未來智能交通運輸系統(tǒng)的發(fā)展之門。”
但是，實現(xiàn)這一點的前提是汽車自動駕駛技術(shù)必須足夠可靠，在各種環(huán)境下，無論是高速公路上，還是超低速行駛的城市街道中，抑或是擁擠的停車場中，均能正常工作。
這就是馳騁賽道的自動駕駛RS7跑車與自動停車功能之間的聯(lián)系——自動駕駛技術(shù)。依靠這一技術(shù)，車輛在任何大城市中，無論面對怎樣復(fù)雜的交通環(huán)境，都能安全地完成停車任務(wù)。
作者：Stuart Birch
來源：SAE 《汽車工程雜志》
翻譯：SAE 上海辦公室
Why Audi boss Stadler believes in a hands-off future
Braking a 412-kW (552-hp) lightened Audi RS7 very hard from 210 km/h (130 mph) deep into a downhill tight corner on a racetrack—with feet off the pedals and hands off the steering wheel—may seem to have little connection with parking in a traffic-thronged city center. But it has.
The link is autonomous driving technology.
To make the point, Audi Chairman Prof. Rupert Stadler and his specialist teams recently demonstrated their company's capabilities and R&D programs in the automated/autonomous arena to select media, including Automotive Engineering, at the Castelloli circuit near Barcelona. These technologies are now proving their potential not only to take human error out of high speed travel but to bring significant convenience and cost benefits to urban transport and the development of “smart” cities.
Audi is committing the financial resources to prove it. “In the next five years we will invest probably 24 billion euros, with 70-80% directed to technology and product,” Stadler explained. A large proportion of both will pave the way toward systems and vehicles that will deliver mobility on a different digital level to anything available today.
But to see the potential fulfilled will require the auto industry to widen and deepen its integration with disciplines that until now have been way outside its immediate ambit. Stadler calls them “context driven innovations” and they include not just transport infrastructure and highway engineering to achieve intelligent traffic management, but also urban area planning and even architecture, together with local and national government administrations. It all adds up to smart city development.
Next A8 capabilities
Audi is a pioneer in anticipating this. In 2010 it launched the Audi Future Initiative to help prepare for the transport needs of a burgeoning global metropolis landscape, in the knowledge that there could be no smart city without a smart mobility system because mobility is at the core of urban life. Even at that early stage, connections were made with leading architects who could envisage how cities would look by 2050.
A challenge, though, for the auto industry is that every city is different but, stated Stadler, that brought more opportunity than threat for designers and engineers. He is confident that CO2-neutral mobility will become a fact. “It is only a matter of time and of completing the right feasibility work,” he asserted.
If Audi is in the position to offer the right technologies like autonomous driving and parking (the company calls it “Piloted” driving and parking to emphasize the driver's ultimate responsibility for vehicle control and safety) via digitalization, incorporating sensor control, cameras and laser solutions, it could offer a major contribution to improving quality of life for urban dwellers.
Audi will need to connect “with the right partners," Stadler admitted. He is not concerned that by mid-21st century 70% of the population of many countries are estimated to be city dwellers that may walk, cycle, and use public transport rather than cars. He is confident that cars, including premium brands, will continue to be in demand.
"For example, in China, car ownership is 'a symbol of freedom.' I am absolutely convinced that with new digitalization technologies there will be a much better connectivity of different sorts of mobility—and those who try to get into it now will be in first place,” he said.
The next generation A8 will incorporate both piloted parking and autonomous highway driving capability in countries that permit such technologies and have required infrastructure support. Other models will follow in 2017-18, he confirmed. Eventually a driver would be able to step out of a car and allow it to find its own parking space or to park away from a busy city center.
Such technology provides the opportunity for much narrower parking bays, as no access to a vehicle’s interior would be required. City planners see this capability reducing parking space required by up to 60%, he explained, freeing up real estate use for other purposes.
“There will be a broad spectrum of models in those car parks, not just city cars,” believes Stadler.
The role of Big Data
Audi is involved in several “smart city” schemes, one of them at Somerville City near Boston. Late last year Boston Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Stadler signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing close co-operation in developing a new mobility strategy for the city’s Union Square area: “We plan to develop an urban concept that serves as a blueprint for smart cities of the future,” Stadler said.
The agreement is one that takes Audi into a realm that would once have been considered laughable but it's the way the company, and the industry, must move, believes Stadler.
“Some people don’t consider cars to be a smart solution in cities anymore, causing traffic jams and costing precious time. In fact with our new solutions, the car will reach a totally new level of being ‘smart', he said. In Audi's vision, individual mobility becomes the source of social benefits, rather than costs, with the strategic goal of "removing the urban footprint of cars, both moving and parked."
Stadler argues that in traditional business, high quality leads to a high segment share. But in a network or platform logic, it's the other way round: "Big data is a condition for precise information and more participants lead to a better service level and market acceptance. So far, the car industry is a traditional business but step by step we will turn it into a platform business,” he pledged.
Audi, together with Mercedes-Benz and BMW last year bought the digital mapping company HERE from Nokia. The companies want the platform to stay open to others, including cities.
He stated that swarm intelligence would “change the face and motion” of cities: “Some say that urbanization is the dead-end to individual auto mobility. I say that it’s a trigger to a smart future mobility system.”
But autonomous cars have to be as utterly dependable and trusted to operate on fast highways, ultra-low speed city streets, and in densely packed car parks.
So that is why there is a link between a robot hurling an RS7 round a 4.1-km (2.5-mi), 13-corner racetrack and, eventually, a car that will safely obey orders in the traffic maelstrom of any city in the world.
Author: Stuart Birch
Source: SAE Automotive Engineering Magazine
在巴塞羅納附近的Castelloli賽道上高速馳騁的奧迪RS7跑車，作者也在車內(nèi)，體驗奧迪的“脫手脫腳”領(lǐng)航功能。
奧迪的高級到達系統(tǒng)(advanced arrival system)概念。
松開方向盤！奧迪領(lǐng)航駕駛團隊的一名隊員正在演示，在行駛時他并不需要控制汽車。
奧迪將自動駕駛系統(tǒng)安裝在RS7測試車的后備箱中。
一種全新城市交通運輸體驗。
通過“領(lǐng)航停車”功能，可以節(jié)約停車用地。
奧迪主席Rupert Stadler教授在向七國集團的部長們展示帶有領(lǐng)航駕駛功能的RS7跑車。