谷歌无人驾驶车能与行人对话

Google's self-driving cars have gone a total of 100,000 miles with no accidents and now the company is working towards making their vehicles even safer.

谷歌的无人驾驶汽车已累计安全行驶10万英里（约16.1万公里），未发生任何事故。现在，谷歌正致力于将无人驾驶汽车打造得更加安全。

The software giant recently secured a patent for technology to communicate with pedestrians.

最近，该软件巨头获得了“可与行人沟通”的无人驾驶技术专利。

Screens and/or a speaker system could be used to help the cars and humans coexist safely on the road.

公司为这种汽车安装了屏幕和（或）扬声系统，能确保汽车和行人在道路上并行不悖。

The details of the patent reveal the car will be able to sense when a person is standing in front or close to it and will then decide the next step to take.

专利详情显示，行人站在汽车前方或靠近汽车时，无人驾驶汽车可感知到这种情况，并决定采取何种策略。

The screens, which could be mounted on the doors or hood could flash alerts like ‘Stop’, ‘Safe Cross’ or a traffic sign that would inform pedestrians about what the car is doing.

此时，安装在汽车门和引擎盖上的屏幕会闪现警示信息，比如“停止”、“请安全通过”，或发出相关交通信号，示意行人它将怎样行驶。

The speaker system could vocalize the text shown on the screens and send out other alerts.

扬声系统可以念出屏幕上的字，或发出其他警示。

The patent says, ‘the vehicle may include sensors which detect an object such as a pedestrian attempting or about to cross the roadway in front of the vehicle.'

该专利显示：“无人驾驶汽车可能配有传感器，用于检测是否有行人意图或即将于车前横穿马路。”

'The vehicle’s computer may then determine the correct way to respond to the pedestrian.'

“无人驾驶汽车的电脑将因此采取正确的应对方式。”

'The vehicle may then provide a notification to the pedestrian of what the vehicle is going to do or is currently doing.'

“而后，汽车会告知行人它的行进计划或目前的行驶方向。”

This past Halloween, Google was teaching cars how to recognize children in their costumes, part of a feature that is educating them how to react and act around children.

刚过去的万圣节期间，谷歌对无人驾驶汽车进行了试验，让它们学会辨认儿童的身影。该计划也是无人汽车儿童适应性的一部分。

And this patent takes this feature one step forward by including all pedestrians.

这项新专利则让上述性能更进了一步——将所有行人都考虑在内。

There is also an indication of an eye or robotic arm will be added that could notify pedestrians the car has ‘seen’ them.

该专利还显示，无人驾驶汽车可能会安装电子眼或机械手臂，知会行人汽车已经“看见”他们了。

The arm could mimic that of a humans, as it ‘sweeps’ for pedestrians to cross, but the message could come across unclear when it’s coming from a robot and not a real person.

机械手臂可以模仿人的动作，向过马路的行人“挥手”。但由于这个动作并不是出自真人，所以很有可能让行人一头雾水。

Currently, no sketches have been released of how the system would work or look, but it appears to be similar to a system Nissan showed off last month.

目前为止，谷歌尚未公布该系统的运行细节或具体样子。但外界认为，该系统很有可能与尼桑上个月展出的一个相关系统类似。

However, Google applied for their patent back in 2012.

不过，谷歌早在2012年就申请了该专利。

For Nissan’s futuristic vehicles, it envisions an outward-facing display in side of the windshield that tells pedestrians when the car is about to stop or if it wants someone to cross ahead of it.

在尼桑的这一未来汽车构想中，挡风玻璃有朝外的显示屏，告知行人汽车将要停下，或是让前方行人先行。

In the company’s video, it shows a driver pushing a button and the steering wheel unravels then recedes back into the dashboard.

尼桑的宣传视频显示，司机按下一个按钮，方向盘即解体，并缩回仪表盘内。

These new vehicles can only be summoned on a smartphone from a garage to meet the driver and will greet them by name.

这种新型汽车只能通过智能手机从车库召唤到司机面前，它们还会叫司机的名字，跟他们打招呼。

Vocabulary

self-driving car：无人驾驶汽车

vocalize：以嗓音发出；说出