英文外刊阅读：Elon Musk announces Tesla will unveil a ‘robotaxi’ on August 8

Elon Musk announces Tesla will unveil a ‘robotaxi’ on August 8

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN

Published 7:01 PM EDT, Fri April 5, 2024

CNN —

Elon Musk has long had an affinity for self-driving vehicles, claiming they will be one of Tesla’s most important products. Despite big promises, years have gone by without cars that can, so far, drive on their own.

But Musk, on a Friday afternoon, when companies tend to bury news, announced on X that Tesla would unveil its robotaxi on August 8.

His post was simple and included no details. “Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8,” the Tesla CEO (and owner of X) posted.

Musk has said in the past that Tesla will make a car without controls for a human to use. He has also said in the past that Tesla cars equipped with Full Self-Driving Capability will, through software updates, gradually become better and better at driving. At some point, the cars will be capable of operating as fully autonomous taxis and could earn money for their owners by giving taxi rides on their own, Musk has repeatedly said.

So far, the company has passed several of Musk’s predictions for when actual self-driving would be possible.

Tesla five years ago, in April 2019, said it expected to begin operating robotaxis by 2020. The company predicted the autonomous cars would last 11 years and drive 1 million miles, making the company and the car’s operators $30,000 in profit each year.

But Musk also acknowledged that his track record for predictions can be off – sometimes by a mile.

“The only criticism and it’s a fair one, sometimes I’m not on time. But I get it done and the Tesla team gets it done,” Musk said at the April 2019 event.

Currently, Full Self-Driving capability can be purchased with a new Tesla Model 3, for instance, for an additional $12,000 added to the car’s roughly $40,000 purchase price. It can be also be purchased on a subscription basis for up to $199 a month, depending on how the car was originally equipped.

In small gray type, Tesla’s on-line description points out, “The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” meaning that it is not, in fact, capable of fully self-driving today.

Musk has said the system will one day make Tesla cars incredibly valuable.

“You can think of every car we sell or produce that has full autonomy capability as something that in the future may be worth five times what it is today,” he said in the company’s earnings call for the third quarter last year.

Experts who have tested the system say that, as of now, it is still far from being able to drive on its own without human intervention.

Kelly Funkhouser, associate director of vehicle technology for Consumer Reports, recently tested the system and said she’s less worried about its safety than she is about ordinary Tesla Autopilot, which is designed to provide more limited driving assistance mainly on highways. Ironically, that’s because the Full Self-Driving technology performs so poorly. Funkhouser described it as like giving control of your car to a novice teen driver.

“You’re not likely to tune out and become complacent or over-reliant on it,” she said. “In fact, I would say you’re potentially more alert.”

A number of companies, including Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, as well as GM subsidiary Cruise, are working on autonomous ride-sharing services.

Cruise has paused its testing work after one of its self-driving cars hit and dragged a pedestrian. An internal review found that company representatives had failed to be fully open with regulators about the incident. The company is being investigated by the Department of Justice over the incident.

Waymo recently had to recall its own cars after two of its cars hit the same tow truck within minutes of one another.

Elon Musk announces Tesla will unveil a ‘robotaxi’ on August 8

马斯克宣布特斯拉将于8月8日推出'机器人出租车'

Elon Musk has long had an affinity for self-driving vehicles, claiming they will be one of Tesla’s most important products. Despite big promises, years have gone by without cars that can, so far, drive on their own.

马斯克长期以来一直热衷于自动驾驶汽车，声称它们会是特斯拉最重要的产品之一。尽管信誓旦旦，多年过去了，到目前为止，没有可以自动驾驶的车。

But Musk, on a Friday afternoon, when companies tend to bury news, announced on X that Tesla would unveil its robotaxi on August 8.

但周五下午，当其公司想要盖住新闻时，马斯克在X上宣布，特斯拉将于8月8日推出其机器人出租车。

His post was simple and included no details. “Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8,” the Tesla CEO (and owner of X) posted.

他发布的帖子很简单，没有具体的信息。“8/8推出特斯拉机器人出租车”，特斯拉CEO（也是X的拥有者）发帖说到。

Musk has said in the past that Tesla will make a car without controls for a human to use. He has also said in the past that Tesla cars equipped with Full Self-Driving Capability will, through software updates, gradually become better and better at driving. At some point, the cars will be capable of operating as fully autonomous taxis and could earn money for their owners by giving taxi rides on their own, Musk has repeatedly said.

马斯克曾说过，特斯拉将生产一款无控制的汽车供人类使用。他过去也说过，配备全自动驾驶功能的特斯拉汽车将通过软件更新，变得越来越擅长驾驶。马斯克一再表示，将来某一天，这些汽车将能够成为完全自动驾驶的出租车，并通过自动载客为车主赚钱。

So far, the company has passed several of Musk’s predictions for when actual self-driving would be possible.

到目前为止，该公司已经通过了马斯克关于何时可以实现真正的自动驾驶的几项预测。

Tesla five years ago, in April 2019, said it expected to begin operating robotaxis by 2020. The company predicted the autonomous cars would last 11 years and drive 1 million miles, making the company and the car’s operators $30,000 in profit each year.

特斯拉在五年前，2019年的四月份表示，其预期在2020年开始运营机器人出租车。该公司预计这种自动驾驶汽车能够运行11年驾驶100万英里，每年给公司和汽车的运营者带来30000美元的利润。

But Musk also acknowledged that his track record for predictions can be off – sometimes by a mile.

但马斯克也承认，他的预测会偏离，有时候差十万八千里。

“The only criticism and it’s a fair one, sometimes I’m not on time. But I get it done and the Tesla team gets it done,” Musk said at the April 2019 event.

“唯一的批评，也是公平的批评，有时我没有按时完成。但我完成了，特斯拉团队也完成了”，马斯克在2019年4月的活动上表示。

Currently, Full Self-Driving capability can be purchased with a new Tesla Model 3, for instance, for an additional $12,000 added to the car’s roughly $40,000 purchase price. It can be also be purchased on a subscription basis for up to $199 a month, depending on how the car was originally equipped.

目前，全自动驾驶功能可以在购买新的特斯卡Model 3时购买，例如在大约40000美元的购车价格上再加12000美元。也可以订购，最高每月199美元，具体取决于车的原始配置。

In small gray type, Tesla’s on-line description points out, “The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” meaning that it is not, in fact, capable of fully self-driving today.

特斯拉的网上灰色小字体的描述中指出，“目前的功能需要驾驶员主动去监视，不能让车辆自动驾驶”，这也就意味着，事实上还不能够完全自动驾驶。

Musk has said the system will one day make Tesla cars incredibly valuable.

马斯克称该系统在将来某一天会让特斯拉汽车变得极具价值。

“You can think of every car we sell or produce that has full autonomy capability as something that in the future may be worth five times what it is today,” he said in the company’s earnings call for the third quarter last year.

“你可以认为，我们销售或生产的每一辆具有完全自主能力的汽车，未来的价值可能是现在的五倍”，他在该公司去年第三季度的电话财报会议上说道。

Experts who have tested the system say that, as of now, it is still far from being able to drive on its own without human intervention.

测试过该系统的专家表示，截至目前，在没有人为干预的情况下其离自行驾驶还很远。

Kelly Funkhouser, associate director of vehicle technology for Consumer Reports, recently tested the system and said she’s less worried about its safety than she is about ordinary Tesla Autopilot, which is designed to provide more limited driving assistance mainly on highways. Ironically, that’s because the Full Self-Driving technology performs so poorly. Funkhouser described it as like giving control of your car to a novice teen driver.

Kelly Funkhouser，《消费者报告》的汽车技术副总监，最近测试了该系统，她说她对其安全性的担忧不如对普通特斯拉自动驾驶系统的担忧，后者主要在高速公路上提供有限的驾驶辅助。具有讽刺意味的是，这是因为全自动驾驶技术表现很糟糕。Funkhouser将其描述为将你的汽车控制权交给一个新手青少年司机。

“You’re not likely to tune out and become complacent or over-reliant on it,” she said. “In fact, I would say you’re potentially more alert.”

“你不太可能忽视它，自满或者过度依赖它”，她说道，“事实上，你可能会更加警觉”。

A number of companies, including Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, as well as GM subsidiary Cruise, are working on autonomous ride-sharing services.

包括谷歌母公司Alphabet的子公司Waymo以及通用汽车的子公司Cruise在内的多家公司正在开发自动汽车共享服务。

Cruise has paused its testing work after one of its self-driving cars hit and dragged a pedestrian. An internal review found that company representatives had failed to be fully open with regulators about the incident. The company is being investigated by the Department of Justice over the incident.

Cruise因其一辆自动驾驶汽车撞上并拖拽了一名行人而停止了测试工作。一项内部审查发现其公司代表没有就这一事件向监管机构完全公开。该公司正因该事件接受司法部的调查。

Waymo recently had to recall its own cars after two of its cars hit the same tow truck within minutes of one another.

Waymo最近不得不召回自己的汽车，因为它的两辆汽车在几分钟内撞上了同一辆拖车。