阿里巴巴無人駕駛機器人問世

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.

中國零售巨頭阿里巴巴已經(jīng)推出了一款新型自動送貨機器人，據(jù)稱這款機器人容易量產(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咖啡供應方面。

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

美國 Verge新聞網(wǎng)站報道，這款無人駕駛送貨機器人名為“G Plus”，時速可達每小時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上馬云宣布，將投入1000億元人民幣(約合 155億美元)參與國家智能物流骨干網(wǎng)建設，并公布了幾項科技創(chuàng)新。

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

這包括智能倉庫設備以及智能快遞設備。

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.

人工智能專家和作家Calum Chace將G Plus比喻為英國Starship 科技公司開發(fā)的送貨機器人“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公司近年來一直致力于智能物流領域，所以阿里巴巴的產(chǎn)品看起來落后并且丑陋，”他說。

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，與人工智能有關的任何事情都是中國的優(yōu)先事項，中國希望到2030年超越美國，成為人工智能領域世界最領先的國家。”

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，中國可以免費獲取大量用戶數(shù)據(jù)，這對編制算法至關重要”，他補充，“自從引入旨在保護隱私的GDPR立法以來，歐洲在此存在欠缺點。

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：“毫無疑問，中國在任何與人工智能相關領域中都處于領先地位，無論是自動駕駛汽車、面部識別還是送貨機器人。”

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車輛配備固態(tài)激光雷達，這些激光傳感器構成了自動駕駛車輛用于識別周圍環(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)激光雷達更緊湊、更便宜且更容易制造，通過旋轉多線激光器幫助車輛建立周圍環(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，有各種開發(fā)商創(chuàng)建的圖像識別系統(tǒng)，但阿里巴巴使用了更少的激光器和一個小搖擺鏡。

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

上個月寶馬公司透露，其配備固態(tài)激光雷達的自動駕駛車輛將于2021年發(fā)布。