阿里巴巴無(wú)人駕駛機(jī)器人問(wèn)世

Chinese retail giant Alibaba has unveiled a new automated vehicle which it says is easy to mass-produce and could serve a number of functions.

中國(guó)零售巨頭阿里巴巴已經(jīng)推出了一款新型自動(dòng)送貨機(jī)器人，據(jù)稱這款機(jī)器人容易量產(chǎn)，并且可以發(fā)揮多種功能。

These could include delivery courier or automated coffee vendor, it said.

據(jù)稱，這些功能中包含送貨和自動(dòng)咖啡供應(yīng)方面。

The Cainiao G Plus can travel at up to nine miles per hour, reports The Verge news site.

美國(guó) Verge新聞網(wǎng)站報(bào)道，這款無(wú)人駕駛送貨機(jī)器人名為“G Plus”，時(shí)速可達(dá)每小時(shí)9英里。

It was unveiled at a conference where Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced a 100bn yuan ($15.5bn) investment in smart logistics.

在全球智慧物流峰會(huì)上馬云宣布，將投入1000億元人民幣(約合 155億美元)參與國(guó)家智能物流骨干網(wǎng)建設(shè)，并公布了幾項(xiàng)科技創(chuàng)新。

This includes devices such as warehouse robots as well as delivery aids.

這包括智能倉(cāng)庫(kù)設(shè)備以及智能快遞設(shè)備。

AI expert and author Calum Chace described the G Plus as resembling the "ugly big brother" of a delivery bot developed by UK firm Starship Technologies.

人工智能專(zhuān)家和作家Calum Chace將G Plus比喻為英國(guó)Starship 科技公司開(kāi)發(fā)的送貨機(jī)器人“丑陋的大哥”。

Starship has been working on this project for several years, so the Alibaba project looks to be behind as well as ugly, he said.

“Starship公司近年來(lái)一直致力于智能物流領(lǐng)域，所以阿里巴巴的產(chǎn)品看起來(lái)落后并且丑陋，”他說(shuō)。

But that won’t matter. Anything to do with artificial intelligence is a high priority for China, which has set itself the target of overtaking the US as world leader in AI by 2030.

“但這并不重要，與人工智能有關(guān)的任何事情都是中國(guó)的優(yōu)先事項(xiàng)，中國(guó)希望到2030年超越美國(guó)，成為人工智能領(lǐng)域世界最領(lǐng)先的國(guó)家。”

China benefits from having free access to large amounts of data, essential for training algorithms, he added - potentially a drawback in Europe since the introduction of GDPR legislation, designed to protect privacy.

“由于隱私政策差異，中國(guó)可以免費(fèi)獲取大量用戶數(shù)據(jù)，這對(duì)編制算法至關(guān)重要”，他補(bǔ)充，“自從引入旨在保護(hù)隱私的GDPR立法以來(lái)，歐洲在此存在欠缺點(diǎn)。

Don’t bet against the Chinese pulling ahead in any AI-related competition, be it self-driving cars, facial recognition, or delivery bots, Mr Chace said.

Chace先生說(shuō)：“毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，中國(guó)在任何與人工智能相關(guān)領(lǐng)域中都處于領(lǐng)先地位，無(wú)論是自動(dòng)駕駛汽車(chē)、面部識(shí)別還是送貨機(jī)器人。”

The G Plus vehicle is fitted with solid state Lidar - the laser sensors which form an important part of the system autonomous vehicles use to be aware of their surroundings.

G Plus車(chē)輛配備固態(tài)激光雷達(dá)，這些激光傳感器構(gòu)成了自動(dòng)駕駛車(chē)輛用于識(shí)別周?chē)h(huán)境的重要部分。

Solid state Lidar is more compact, cheaper and easier to manufacture than the traditional system, which involves spinning multiple lasers in circles to help build up a 360-degree image of what surrounds the vehicle.

與傳統(tǒng)系統(tǒng)相比，固態(tài)激光雷達(dá)更緊湊、更便宜且更容易制造，通過(guò)旋轉(zhuǎn)多線激光器幫助車(chē)輛建立周?chē)h(huán)境的360度圖像。

There are various developers creating their own versions but essentially it uses fewer lasers and a tiny swinging mirror.

目前，有各種開(kāi)發(fā)商創(chuàng)建的圖像識(shí)別系統(tǒng)，但阿里巴巴使用了更少的激光器和一個(gè)小搖擺鏡。

Last month BMW revealed that its autonomous vehicles will be fitted with solid state Lidar when they launch in 2021.

上個(gè)月寶馬公司透露，其配備固態(tài)激光雷達(dá)的自動(dòng)駕駛車(chē)輛將于2021年發(fā)布。