谷歌無人駕駛部門Waymo與沃爾瑪?shù)冗_成合作

Google’s sister-company Waymo has announced a trial in which its self-driving cars will ferry shoppers to and from a nearby Walmart store to pick up their groceries.

谷歌的姊妹公司waymo對外公布了一項試驗，自己旗下的自動駕駛汽車將在附近的沃爾瑪商店對購物顧客進行接送。

For now, the pilot is being restricted to 400-plus members of its early rider programme in Phoenix, Arizona.

現(xiàn)在，這個試點項目僅限于在Arizona州鳳凰城的參加過早期駕駛試驗的四百多位成員。

However, it indicates how the tech giant thinks the autonomous vehicles could be deployed if and when they exit the experimental stage.

盡管如此，本項實驗一定程度上表明了這家科技巨頭的態(tài)度，自動駕駛該以何種方式投放市場、何時能夠完成實驗階段。

One expert said cost would be key.

專家稱，乘坐成本是問題關(guān)鍵。

The only word on pricing so far is a promise to offer participants discounts when they order goods via Walmart’s Online Grocery Pickup service as part of the deal.

目前為止，價格方面的信息僅有一項承諾：通過沃爾瑪在線商店服務(wù)下單的顧客將享受乘車折扣。

If this is rolled out properly you would expect there to be a reasonably high threshold in terms of the price and spend commitment to justify the service, commented Julie Palmer, a retail expert at the consultancy Begbies Traynor.

咨詢公司Begbies Traynor的零售專家朱莉.帕爾默(JuliePalmer)評論道：“如果推出得當，為體現(xiàn)這一服務(wù)，可以想象在價格和支出方面可能會相當高。

You’d expect it to be limited to shoppers buying higher value items.

“這項服務(wù)也可能僅限于購買高價商品的消費者”

The Walmart partnership had been rumoured after shoppers spotted Waymo-marked parking spots outside the store involved earlier this week, and shared the discovery on Reddit’s Self-driving Cars forum.

在本周早些時候，有傳言稱購物者在商店外發(fā)現(xiàn)了waymo標記的停車點，并在Reddit的自動駕駛汽車論壇上分享了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Some suggested that the tie-up could offer an alternative to Amazon’s Prime Now quick-delivery service.

業(yè)內(nèi)人士稱，這次合作將對標亞馬遜的Prime Now，提供即時配送服務(wù)。

Google and Amazon are both looking at cutting-edge ways to enter the food retail market, and we’re only beginning to see them flex their muscles, remarked Ms Palmer.

鮑爾默女士說，“谷歌和亞馬遜都在嘗試以邊緣切入的方式進入食品零售市場，現(xiàn)在我們看到的，只是兩家競爭的開始”。

The announcements comes two days after Waymo’s chief executive tweeted that its cars had driven a total of eight million miles on public roads, which is double what its tally had been in November.

兩天前，Waymo的首席執(zhí)行官在推特上表示，該公司的汽車在公共道路上行駛了800萬英里，是去年11月的兩倍。