????如今奧迪和其他很多品牌可能都搭載了自適應(yīng)巡航控制系統(tǒng)這類配置，能讓汽車與前車保持安全距離，同時維持勻速行駛。還有幾個品牌采用了動態(tài)車道輔助系統(tǒng)，車輛無意中偏離車道時能發(fā)出預(yù)警，同時輕輕地讓車回到正確的車道上。

????在大量傳感器、各種天氣條件、路況變化、各種行人和其他車輛并存的情況下——機(jī)器人邏輯必須能安全及時地做出轉(zhuǎn)彎、加速和剎車的決定。而相關(guān)的軟硬件，以及處理所有這些信息的算法現(xiàn)在都日益便宜、小型化并且運(yùn)算速度更快。去年奧迪試驗(yàn)車輛的后備箱里還塞滿了控制系統(tǒng)；而今年，作為車輛大腦、位于儀表板上的定制芯片只有一本書那么大。

????現(xiàn)在，美國各州和聯(lián)邦政府的監(jiān)管者還是得決定在什么情況下可以允許采用這些所謂的自動系統(tǒng)?；蛘哒f，如果這些系統(tǒng)確實(shí)被認(rèn)為可使汽車更安全的話，是否應(yīng)要求廠商都標(biāo)配自適應(yīng)巡航控制或車道輔助系統(tǒng)。

????如今的汽車保險(xiǎn)流程非常簡單。但是，如果自動駕駛汽車撞了行人怎么辦？或者說，如果卡車撞了自動駕駛汽車又怎么辦？一旦自動駕駛汽車變得日益普及，實(shí)際情況就會告訴我們到底會發(fā)生多少事故。保險(xiǎn)精算師手里有統(tǒng)計(jì)工具，能算出這些事故會造成多大損失，也能算出每個人要付多少保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)。

????至于說法律責(zé)任，奧迪新聞發(fā)布會的一個問題是這么概括的：“如果一輛沒有駕駛者的車出了事故，到底該誰負(fù)責(zé)：司機(jī)？車主？還是奧迪？”沒人有確切答案。但可以肯定的是，無人駕駛汽車出事的概率會比傳統(tǒng)汽車要低——否則干嘛要研發(fā)它們呢？（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：清遠(yuǎn)???

????Today's Audis and many other brands already may be equipped with features like adaptive cruise control that keeps a car a safe distance and constant speed behind cars ahead. Several have dynamic lane assist, which warn when a car is leaving a lane inadvertently -- and can gently steer the car back.

????Given a multitude of sensors, weather conditions, road changes, pedestrians, and other vehicles -- robotic logic must be able to decide safely and instantaneously whether to turn, accelerate, or brake. The software, hardware, and algorithms that sift all this information are getting cheaper, smaller, and faster. Last year, the control systems filled the trunk of an Audi vehicle; this year, custom chips that function as the brain sit on a board about the size of a book.

????State and federal regulators still must decide under what circumstances to permit so-called autonomous systems or, perhaps, whether to mandate features like adaptive cruise control or lane assist, if they are deemed to make automobile travel more safe.

????Auto insurance today is a very straightforward process. But what about when a piloted car hits a pedestrian? Or when a truck hits a piloted car? Once piloted driving becomes more common, real-world experience will show how many accidents happen. Actuaries have statistical tools for assessing how much accidents will cost and, therefore, how much everyone will pay in insurance premiums.

????As for legal responsibility, a question at an Audi press conference summed it up this way: "If a car without a driver has an accident, who is responsible: the driver? The owner of the car? Audi?" No one has answered the questions definitively, but it's a good bet that driverless cars will be involved in far fewer accidents than ones with -- otherwise, why have them?