Apple reveals self-driving car plans Apple透露自駕車計畫
Apple has acknowledged for the first time that it is investing in
building a self-driving car.
In a letter to US transport regulators, Apple said it was
"excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including
transportation".
蘋果首次承認其正投資於研發自動駕駛車輛。
蘋果在寫給美國交通當局的信中提到：「對於自動化系統運用在各種領域的潛力，感到非常興奮，包括交通在內。」
It added that there
were "significant societal benefits of automated vehicles" to be
realised.
There have long been
rumours about the firm's plans but it has not publicly admitted them.
更提到「自駕車重要的社會利益」需要被實現。
關於其公司計畫的流言，已經流傳好長一段時間了，但從沒有被公開承認過。
However, Ford, which
itself plans to have self-driving cars on the road by 2021, has said it was working
on the basis that Apple was building one.
The tech firm has
already registered several car-related internet domains, including
apple.car and apple.auto.
然後，計畫在2021年有自家自動駕駛車上路的福特汽車表示，
它們的自動駕駛車是以蘋果所正在建立的為基礎。
這間科技公司已經註冊了數個和汽車有關的互聯網系統，例如apple.car及apple.auto。
Sharing data
A company spokesman
for Apple said that the letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) was prompted by its "heavy investment in machine
learning and autonomous systems" and that it wanted to help define best
practices in the industry.
數據分享
蘋果公司發言人表示，之所以寫信給美國國家公路交通安全管理局(NHTSA)，是因為其「大舉投資在機器學習和自動系統」，且希望能協助在這產業中，制定最佳做法。
The five-page letter,
written by Apple's director of product integrity Steve Kenner, urges the
regulator to not introduce too many rules on the testing of self-driving cars,
saying that "established manufacturers and new entrants should be treated
equally."
蘋果產品健全性主管肯納寫了長達五頁的信，敦促機關對於測試自駕車，不要採取太多規定，信中表示：「既有大廠和新進入者須公平對待。」
It also proposes that
companies in the industry share data from crashes and near-misses in order to
build a more comprehensive picture than one company could manage alone, and
therefore enable the design of better systems.
信中更建議，為了建構全面性的資料庫，相關產業公司可以分享事故及過失的資料，遠勝於一家公司獨力打造的資料庫，因此能夠設計更好的系統。
However, it adds that
an individual's privacy should not be compromised by the sharing of such data.
It suggests that the industry and regulators "address privacy challenges
associated with the collection, use, and sharing of automated vehicle
data", with collaboration from privacy experts outside the automotive
industry.
Google is already
testing self-driving cars on the roads. In October, electric carmaker Tesla
announced that all the cars it now builds will have the hardware installed to
drive on their own.
Google已經有自駕車上路測試了。在十月，電動車公司特斯拉汽車宣布其現有製造的汽車，皆有安裝自駕硬體。
In the UK, an
autonomous vehicle was test-driven in Milton Keynes in the summer, with further
trials in London planned.
在英國，自動車試駕已於夏天在米爾頓凱恩斯小鎮上路，領先倫敦所計畫的。
