谷歌如何让无人驾驶汽车合法化

Marilyn Dondero Loop, a Nevada state assemblywoman, remembers being skeptical and concerned of possible dangers with self-driving cars when a Google Inc. lobbyist first approached her last year.

内华达州女议员玛丽莲·唐德罗·鲁普（Marilyn Dondero Loop）记得谷歌公司（Google Inc.）的一名说客去年第一次找到她时，她对自动驾驶汽车表示怀疑，对其可能引起的危险有些担忧。

But then Google introduced Ms. Dondero Loop, who chairs the assembly's transportation committee, to people who had ridden in its self-driving cars and showed her a video of one stopping when people crossed in front it.

但是在那之后，谷歌向担任州众议院交通运输委员会主席的唐纳德·鲁普引荐了曾经驾乘过该公司自动驾驶汽车的人，并给她放映了一段有人从自动驾驶汽车前走过时汽车刹车的视频。

'That was an 'aha' moment for me,' said Ms. Dondero Loop, whose committee later introduced a bill paving way for legalizing the vehicles on Nevada streets that was quickly passed into law in June 2011.

唐纳德·鲁普说，“那一刻我发出了‘啊哈’的一声惊叹声。她的委员会后来提出一项议案，为这种汽车在内华达州的大街上合法行驶铺平了道路，这项提案很快在2011年6月获得通过，成为法律。

Google has taken the same inspirational playbook to other states, working with a network of local lobbyists and in-house policy experts to woo legislators with demonstrations and rides in its exotic cars.

谷歌在其它各州上演了同样鼓舞人心的一幕，同一大拨当地的院外说客和院内政策专家一道，通过实物展示和亲身驾乘这种奇异汽车的方式来寻求州议员们的支持。

It has scored legislative wins in Nevada, Florida and California, and there are now similar bills before lawmakers in Hawaii, New Jersey, Oklahoma and the District of Columbia.

谷歌已经在内华达州、佛罗里达州和加利福尼亚州取得立法成功，同样的议案现在也摆在了夏威夷州、新泽西州、俄克拉荷马州和哥伦比亚特区的议员面前。

In the process, the Mountain View, Calif., company is building its credentials as an astute political operator. Google has been 'pretty savvy' at navigating state capitols, said Frank Douma, associate director at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. With its self-driving cars, Google 'knew what they were doing by moving forward in Nevada' before approaching bigger states, he said. 'If you blow it in the first state, you've really got problems.'

在这一过程中，这家位于加利福尼亚州山景城（Mountain View）的公司逐渐积累了精明的政治操纵者的资历。明尼苏达大学（University of Minnesota）汉弗莱公共事务学院（Humphrey School of Public Affairs）副院长弗兰克·杜马（Frank Douma）说，谷歌在掌控州议会方面“相当在行。他说，在自动驾驶汽车这件事情上，谷歌“很清楚先在内华达州取得进展对他们意味着什么，之后才到更大的州进行接洽，“如果你在第一个州搞砸了，你就真的遇到麻烦了。

Success at legalizing self-driving car technology has broader implications for Google. Skills learned from lobbying state lawmakers could aid other endeavors that will require local policy-making, including the potential expansion of its Google Fiber Internet and TV service into markets dominated by cable companies.

成功实现自动驾驶汽车技术的合法化对谷歌公司来说具有更广泛的意义。游说州议员的过程中所学到的技巧可以帮助该公司在其它需要本地决策的事务上取得进展，其中包括在有线电视公司主导的市场里扩张谷歌光纤网络和电视服务。

Self-driving technology won't be available for years and it's too soon to tell whether robo-cars become a huge moneymaker for Google. But the state-level efforts are laying the groundwork for the expected creation of federal regulations governing autonomous vehicles, say people familiar with the technology.

熟悉这项技术的人说，自动驾驶技术在若干年时间里还不能广泛普及，现在判断机器人汽车是否会成为谷歌公司的赚钱大户还为时过早，但是在州级层面所做的努力正在为未来制订指导自动交通工具的联邦法规奠定基矗

Overall, Google spent nearly $9 million in the first half of 2012 lobbying in Washington for a wide variety of issues, including speaking to U.S. Department of Transportation officials and lawmakers about autonomous vehicle technology, according to federal records, nearing the $9.68 million it spent on lobbying in all of 2011.

根据联邦文件的记录，谷歌在2012年上半年总共花费了近900万美元就各种各样的问题在华盛顿展开游说，包括找美国运输部（U.S. Department of Transportation）官员和国会议员谈论自动交通工具技术的相关事宜，接近该公司2011年全年用于游说所花费的968万美元。

It is unclear how much Google has spent in total on lobbying state officials; the company doesn't disclose such data. Leslie Miller, a Google public policy manager, said, 'We don't have a diagramed, master plan' for passing self-driving car legislation nationwide. The goal is to establish 'parameters of what would allow that idea to get to the market in a very thoughtful way,' she said.

谷歌游说各州官员所花费的总金额是多少不得而知，该公司没有透露这方面的数据。谷歌公司的公共政策经理莱斯利·米勒（Leslie Miller）说，对于在全国范围内让自动驾驶汽车通过立法批准，“我们没有一个拟定好的总体规划。她说，公司的目标是建立“一些参数，让这一设想能够以一种非常周全的方式进入市常

Google began testing self-driving cars in 2010 under engineer Sebastian Thrun, who had previously worked on the technology with Stanford University faculty. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pushed Mr. Thrun to perfect the technology, which allows cars to drive themselves with the aid of lasers, cameras, and other gear.

2010年，谷歌公司在工程师塞巴斯蒂安·特龙（Sebastian Thrun）的主持下开始测试自动驾驶汽车，特龙之前与斯坦福大学（Stanford University）的教师一起从事过这项技术的研究。谷歌共同创始人拉里·佩奇（Larry Page）和谢尔盖·布林（Sergey Brin）力促特龙完善这项可以让汽车在激光、摄像头和其它装置的辅助之下自动行驶的技术。

Last month, Mr. Brin said he expects self-driving cars to be publicly available within five years. Autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers, and the technology could prevent accidents, help disabled people get around and reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption, he said.

上个月，布林说他预计自动驾驶汽车可望在五年内广泛普及。他说，自动交通工具比有人驾驶的汽车更安全，这项技术可以防止交通事故，帮助残疾人出行，减少交通堵塞和汽油消耗。

Auto makers such as General Motors Co., BMW AG and Toyota Motor Corp. are competing with Google to develop the technology.

通用汽车公司（General Motors Co.）、宝马汽车公司（BMW AG）和丰田汽车公司（Toyota Motor Corp.）等汽车制造商也在竞相发展这项技术。

Google's effort to make the cars legal began in 2010 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There, Anthony Levandowski, an engineer on Google's car project, met with lobbyist David Goldwater and discussed the hurdles to legalizing the cars and how the bigger, more closely watched legislature in Google's home state might be a trickier place to start.

谷歌争取这种汽车合法化的努力始于2010年的拉斯维加斯消费电子产品展（Consumer Electronics Show）。谷歌公司汽车项目的工程师安东尼·莱万多夫斯基（Anthony Levandowski）在那里与院外活动人士大卫·戈德华特（David Goldwater）会面，讨论了自动汽车合法化过程中的障碍以及为何在谷歌公司所在的加利福尼亚州的更大、更受到密切关注的立法机构开始游说会更棘手。

Mr. Levandowski later agreed Google should give Nevada a try, partly because the state's aging population might benefit from self-driving cars and it was close to California, said a Google spokesman.

谷歌公司的一名发言人说，莱万多夫斯基后来之所以赞同谷歌应该在内华达州试水，部分原因是由于该州的老龄化人口可以受益于自动驾驶汽车，而且内华达紧挨着加利福尼亚。

In January 2011, Mr. Goldwater approached Ms. Dondero Loop and the Nevada assembly transportation committee about proposing a bill to direct the state's department of motor vehicles to draft regulations around the self-driving vehicles.

2011年1月，戈德华特找到唐德罗·鲁普和内华达州众议院交通运输委员会，游说他们提出一项议案，指导该州的机动车管理局（department of motor vehicles，简称DMV）起草有关自动驾驶交通工具的法规。

'We're not saying, 'Put this on the road,'' he said he told the lawmakers. 'We're saying, 'This is legitimate technology,' and we're letting the DMV test it and certify it.'

他说他是这样告诉议员们的，“我们并不是说：‘让这玩意儿上路。’我们的意思是，‘这是一项合法的技术，’我们正在让DMV对它进行测试和认证。

Following the Nevada bill's passage, legislators from other states began showing interest in similar legislation. So Google repeated its original recipe and added an extra ingredient: giving lawmakers the chance to ride in one of its about a dozen self-driving cars.

内华达州的议案通过以后，其它州的议员开始对类似的立法表现出兴趣。于是谷歌再次拿出了它的原始配方，并且还另外加进了配料：从十多辆自动驾驶汽车中挑选一辆，让议员们体验一下驾乘的感受。

'We had it going 70 miles an hour,' recalls Jeff Brandes, a Florida representative who sponsored the state's autonomous-vehicle bill, which passed in April. 'It feels like it is a better driver than you are.'

佛罗里达州众议员杰夫·布兰德斯（Jeff Brandes）回忆说，“我们让汽车以每小时70英里的速度行驶，感觉它的驾驶技术比你自己还好。布兰德斯在该州提出的自动汽车议案在4月份获得通过。

In California, an autonomous-vehicle bill became law last month despite opposition from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes 12 top auto makers such as GM, BMW and Toyota. The group had approved of the Florida bill.

在加利福尼亚州，一项自动汽车议案在上个月成为了法律，尽管有来自美国汽车制造商联盟（Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers）的反对声，该联盟成员包括通用、宝马和丰田等12家最大的汽车制造商。该组织此前对佛罗里达州的议案投了赞成票。

Dan Gage, a spokesman for the group, said the California legislation would allow companies and individuals to modify existing vehicles with self-driving technology that could be faulty, and that auto makers wouldn't be legally protected from resulting lawsuits. 'They're not all Google, and they could convert our vehicles in a manner not intended,' Mr. Gage said.

汽车制造商联盟的发言人丹·盖奇（Dan Gage）说，加利福尼亚州通过的法案允许公司和个人用自动驾驶技术改装现有的汽车，这样做可能会引发故障，而且汽车制造商在由此引发的诉讼案中无法获得法律保护。盖奇说，“那些汽车不是由谷歌制造的，他们会用非预期的方式改装我们的汽车。

But Google helped push the bill through after spending about $140,000 over the past year to lobby legislators and California agencies, according to public records. The company also touted the self-driving technology as a way to prevent accidents and save lives.

但是根据公共档案的记录，过去一年中谷歌在花费了14万美元对议员和加利福尼亚州的相关机构进行游说之后，推动议案获得了通过。谷歌公司还把自动驾驶技术宣扬成预防交通事故、拯救生命的一种手段。

'That has bipartisan appeal,' said Alex Padilla, a state senator who sponsored California's bill.

在加利福尼亚州提出议案的参议员亚历克斯·帕迪拉（Alex Padilla）说，“那种宣传对两党都有吸引力。