谷歌如何讓無人駕駛汽車合法化《華人街日報》

Google's Driverless Car Builds Political Power 《華人街日報》

Marilyn Dondero Loop, a Nevada state assemblywoman, remembers being skeptical and concerned of possible dangers with self-driving cars when a Google Inc. lobbyist first approached her last year.

內華達州女議員瑪麗蓮?唐德羅?魯普（Marilyn Dondero Loop）記得谷歌公司（Google Inc.）的一名說客去年第一次找到她時，她對自動駕駛汽車表示懷疑，對其可能引起的危險有些擔憂。

But then Google introduced Ms. Dondero Loop, who chairs the assembly's transportation committee, to people who had ridden in its self-driving cars and showed her a video of one stopping when people crossed in front it.

但是在那之後，谷歌向擔任州眾議院交通運輸委員會主席的唐納德?魯普引薦瞭曾經駕乘過該公司自動駕駛汽車的人，並給她放映瞭一段有人從自動駕駛汽車前走過時汽車剎車的視頻。

'That was an 'aha' moment for me,' said Ms. Dondero Loop, whose committee later introduced a bill paving way for legalizing the vehicles on Nevada streets that was quickly passed into law in June 2011.

唐納德?魯普說，“那一刻我發出瞭‘啊哈’的一聲驚嘆聲。”她的委員會後來提出一項議案，為這種汽車在內華達州的大街上合法行駛鋪平瞭道路，這項提案很快在2011年6月獲得通過，成為法律。

Google has taken the same inspirational playbook to other states, working with a network of local lobbyists and in-house policy experts to woo legislators with demonstrations and rides in its exotic cars.

谷歌在其它各州上演瞭同樣鼓舞人心的一幕，同一大撥當地的院外說客和院內政策專傢一道，通過實物展示和親身駕乘這種奇異汽車的方式來尋求州議員們的支持。

It has scored legislative wins in Nevada, Florida and California, and there are now similar bills before lawmakers in Hawaii, New Jersey, Oklahoma and the District of Columbia.

谷歌已經在內華達州、佛羅裡達州和加利福尼亞州取得立法成功，同樣的議案現在也擺在瞭夏威夷州、新澤西州、俄克拉荷馬州和哥倫比亞特區的議員面前。

In the process, the Mountain View, Calif., company is building its credentials as an astute political operator. Google has been 'pretty savvy' at navigating state capitols, said Frank Douma, associate director at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs. With its self-driving cars, Google 'knew what they were doing by moving forward in Nevada' before approaching bigger states, he said. 'If you blow it in the first state, you've really got problems.'

在這一過程中，這傢位於加利福尼亞州山景城（Mountain View）的公司逐漸積累瞭精明的政治操縱者的資歷。明尼蘇達大學（University of Minnesota）漢弗萊公共事務學院（Humphrey School of Public Affairs）副院長弗蘭克?杜馬（Frank Douma）說，谷歌在掌控州議會方面“相當在行”。他說，在自動駕駛汽車這件事情上，谷歌“很清楚先在內華達州取得進展對他們意味著什麼，”之後才到更大的州進行接洽，“如果你在第一個州搞砸瞭，你就真的遇到麻煩瞭。”

Success at legalizing self-driving car technology has broader implications for Google. Skills learned from lobbying state lawmakers could aid other endeavors that will require local policy-making, including the potential expansion of its Google Fiber Internet and TV service into markets dominated by cable companies.

成功實現自動駕駛汽車技術的合法化對谷歌公司來說具有更廣泛的意義。遊說州議員的過程中所學到的技巧可以幫助該公司在其它需要本地決策的事務上取得進展，其中包括在有線電視公司主導的市場裡擴張谷歌光纖網絡和電視服務。

Self-driving technology won't be available for years and it's too soon to tell whether robo-cars become a huge moneymaker for Google. But the state-level efforts are laying the groundwork for the expected creation of federal regulations governing autonomous vehicles, say people familiar with the technology.

熟悉這項技術的人說，自動駕駛技術在若幹年時間裡還不能廣泛普及，現在判斷機器人汽車是否會成為谷歌公司的賺錢大戶還為時過早，但是在州級層面所做的努力正在為未來制訂指導自動交通工具的聯邦法規奠定基礎。

Overall, Google spent nearly $9 million in the first half of 2012 lobbying in Washington for a wide variety of issues, including speaking to U.S. Department of Transportation officials and lawmakers about autonomous vehicle technology, according to federal records, nearing the $9.68 million it spent on lobbying in all of 2011.

根據聯邦文件的記錄，谷歌在2012年上半年總共花費瞭近900萬美元就各種各樣的問題在華盛頓展開遊說，包括找美國運輸部（U.S. Department of Transportation）官員和國會議員談論自動交通工具技術的相關事宜，接近該公司2011年全年用於遊說所花費的968萬美元。

It is unclear how much Google has spent in total on lobbying state officials; the company doesn't disclose such data. Leslie Miller, a Google public policy manager, said, 'We don't have a diagramed, master plan' for passing self-driving car legislation nationwide. The goal is to establish 'parameters of what would allow that idea to get to the market in a very thoughtful way,' she said.

谷歌遊說各州官員所花費的總金額是多少不得而知，該公司沒有透露這方面的數據。谷歌公司的公共政策經理萊斯利?米勒（Leslie Miller）說，對於在全國范圍內讓自動駕駛汽車通過立法批準，“我們沒有一個擬定好的總體規劃。”她說，公司的目標是建立“一些參數，讓這一設想能夠以一種非常周全的方式進入市場。”

Google began testing self-driving cars in 2009 under engineer Sebastian Thrun, who had previously worked on the technology with Stanford University faculty. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin pushed Mr. Thrun to perfect the technology, which allows cars to drive themselves with the aid of lasers, cameras, and other gear.

2009年，谷歌公司在工程師塞巴斯蒂安?特龍（Sebastian Thrun）的主持下開始測試自動駕駛汽車，特龍之前與斯坦福大學（Stanford University）的教師一起從事過這項技術的研究。谷歌共同創始人拉裡?佩奇（Larry Page）和謝爾蓋?佈林（Sergey Brin）力促特龍完善這項可以讓汽車在激光、攝像頭和其它裝置的輔助之下自動行駛的技術。

Last month, Mr. Brin said he expects self-driving cars to be publicly available within five years. Autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers, and the technology could prevent accidents, help disabled people get around and reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption, he said.

上個月，佈林說他預計自動駕駛汽車可望在五年內廣泛普及。他說，自動交通工具比有人駕駛的汽車更安全，這項技術可以防止交通事故，幫助殘疾人出行，減少交通堵塞和汽油消耗。

Auto makers such as General Motors Co., BMW AG and Toyota Motor Corp. are competing with Google to develop the technology.

通用汽車公司（General Motors Co.）、寶馬汽車公司（BMW AG）和豐田汽車公司（Toyota Motor Corp.）等汽車制造商也在競相發展這項技術。

Google's effort to make the cars legal began in 2010 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There, Anthony Levandowski, an engineer on Google's car project, met with lobbyist David Goldwater and discussed the hurdles to legalizing the cars and how the bigger, more closely watched legislature in Google's home state might be a trickier place to start.

谷歌爭取這種汽車合法化的努力始於2010年的拉斯維加斯消費電子產品展（Consumer Electronics Show）。谷歌公司汽車項目的工程師安東尼?萊萬多夫斯基（Anthony Levandowski）在那裡與院外活動人士大衛?戈德華特（David Goldwater）會面，討論瞭自動汽車合法化過程中的障礙以及為何在谷歌公司所在的加利福尼亞州的更大、更受到密切關註的立法機構開始遊說會更棘手。

Mr. Levandowski later agreed Google should give Nevada a try, partly because the state's aging population might benefit from self-driving cars and it was close to California, said a Google spokesman.

谷歌公司的一名發言人說，萊萬多夫斯基後來之所以贊同谷歌應該在內華達州試水，部分原因是由於該州的老齡化人口可以受益於自動駕駛汽車，而且內華達緊挨著加利福尼亞。

In January 2011, Mr. Goldwater approached Ms. Dondero Loop and the Nevada assembly transportation committee about proposing a bill to direct the state's department of motor vehicles to draft regulations around the self-driving vehicles.

2011年1月，戈德華特找到唐德羅?魯普和內華達州眾議院交通運輸委員會，遊說他們提出一項議案，指導該州的機動車管理局（department of motor vehicles，簡稱DMV）起草有關自動駕駛交通工具的法規。

'We're not saying, 'Put this on the road,'' he said he told the lawmakers. 'We're saying, 'This is legitimate technology,' and we're letting the DMV test it and certify it.'

他說他是這樣告訴議員們的，“我們並不是說：‘讓這玩意兒上路。’我們的意思是，‘這是一項合法的技術，’我們正在讓DMV對它進行測試和認證。”

Following the Nevada bill's passage, legislators from other states began showing interest in similar legislation. So Google repeated its original recipe and added an extra ingredient: giving lawmakers the chance to ride in one of its about a dozen self-driving cars.

內華達州的議案通過以後，其它州的議員開始對類似的立法表現出興趣。於是谷歌再次拿出瞭它的原始配方，並且還另外加進瞭配料：從十多輛自動駕駛汽車中挑選一輛，讓議員們體驗一下駕乘的感受。

'We had it going 70 miles an hour,' recalls Jeff Brandes, a Florida representative who sponsored the state's autonomous-vehicle bill, which passed in April. 'It feels like it is a better driver than you are.'

佛羅裡達州眾議員傑夫?佈蘭德斯（Jeff Brandes）回憶說，“我們讓汽車以每小時70英裡的速度行駛，感覺它的駕駛技術比你自己還好。”佈蘭德斯在該州提出的自動汽車議案在4月份獲得通過。

In California, an autonomous-vehicle bill became law last month despite opposition from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes 12 top auto makers such as GM, BMW and Toyota. The group had approved of the Florida bill.

在加利福尼亞州，一項自動汽車議案在上個月成為瞭法律，盡管有來自美國汽車制造商聯盟（Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers）的反對聲，該聯盟成員包括通用、寶馬和豐田等12傢最大的汽車制造商。該組織此前對佛羅裡達州的議案投瞭贊成票。

Dan Gage, a spokesman for the group, said the California legislation would allow companies and individuals to modify existing vehicles with self-driving technology that could be faulty, and that auto makers wouldn't be legally protected from resulting lawsuits. 'They're not all Google, and they could convert our vehicles in a manner not intended,' Mr. Gage said.

汽車制造商聯盟的發言人丹?蓋奇（Dan Gage）說，加利福尼亞州通過的法案允許公司和個人用自動駕駛技術改裝現有的汽車，這樣做可能會引發故障，而且汽車制造商在由此引發的訴訟案中無法獲得法律保護。蓋奇說，“那些汽車不是由谷歌制造的，他們會用非預期的方式改裝我們的汽車。”

But Google helped push the bill through after spending about $140,000 over the past year to lobby legislators and California agencies, according to public records. The company also touted the self-driving technology as a way to prevent accidents and save lives.

但是根據公共檔案的記錄，過去一年中谷歌在花費瞭14萬美元對議員和加利福尼亞州的相關機構進行遊說之後，推動議案獲得瞭通過。谷歌公司還把自動駕駛技術宣揚成預防交通事故、拯救生命的一種手段。

'That has bipartisan appeal,' said Alex Padilla, a state senator who sponsored California's bill.

在加利福尼亞州提出議案的參議員亞歷克斯?帕迪拉（Alex Padilla）說，“那種宣傳對兩黨都有吸引力。”