Different Ideas About Self-Driving Cars

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Many businesses are considering different plans to make automotive artificial intelligence profitable.
许多企业正在考虑不同的计划，以使汽车人工智能盈利。

The founders of Argo AI – along with automaker partners Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen AG - believe their plan will work. It is different from those of some of their more highly valued rivals.

阿尔戈人工智能公司的创始人——以及汽车制造商合作伙伴福特汽车公司和大众汽车公司——相信他们的计划会奏效。它不同于一些更有价值的竞争对手。

Argo AI wants to get customers that will use robot vehicles for many purposes, including transporting goods and people.Argo-AI希望获得将机器人车辆用于多种用途的客户，包括运输货物和人员。

Background and business plan 背景和业务计划

Bryan Salesky, the leader of Argo AI, started developing automated vehicles 12 years ago, in a competition.

阿尔戈人工智能的领导者布莱恩·萨尔斯基（Bryan Salesky）12年前在一场竞争中开始研发自动化汽车。

The self-driving systems developer is now at the center of a multibillion-dollar investment. Argo AI and its partners think that self-driving vehicle technology must be good for more than just replacing taxi drivers.

这个自动驾驶系统开发人员现在是数十亿美元投资的中心。ARGO AI及其合作伙伴认为，自驾车技术必须不仅仅是取代出租车司机。

"I hate the word robotaxi," Salesky said in a rare interview at Argo's Pittsburgh headquarters. "There are so many applications and businesses to be built."

“我讨厌“机器人出租车”这个词，”Salesky在ARGO匹兹堡总部的一次罕见采访中说。有太多的应用程序和业务有待开发。”

A profit-sharing deal is at the heart of The Argo business plan. Ford and VW will pay Argo fees based on the distance traveled by vehicles equipped with Argo's technology. Details of that deal have not been reported until now, notes the Reuters news agency.

利润分享交易是Argo商业计划的核心。福特和大众将根据配备Argo技术的车辆行驶距离支付Argo费用。路透社（Reuters）指出，该交易的细节直到现在才有报道。

Among the possible uses of Argo's technology: Long-distance trucking for e-commerce.

Argo技术的可能用途包括：用于电子商务的长途卡车运输。 

Argo's plan is to provide self-driving systems that Ford will launch in late 2021 in three U.S. cities.

Argo的计划是提供福特将于2021年底在美国三个城市推出的自动驾驶系统。

 
VW leaders told Reuters they expect to follow in 2022 or 2023 with a VW-designed all-electric vehicle.

大众领导人告诉路透社，他们预计2022年或2023年将推出大众设计的全电动汽车。

 
Competition竞争

Some rivals are not persuaded that Argo has any lead.

一些竞争对手不相信阿戈有任何领先优势。

 
Glen De Vos is chief technology officer of Aptiv, which recently bought self-driving startups nuTonomy and Ottomatika.

格伦·德沃斯（Glen De Vos）是Aptiv的首席技术官，该公司最近收购了自驾车初创公司nuTonomy和Ottomatika。

He noted Aptiv's partnership with the ride-sharing company Lyft. He said the companies are testing self-driving vehicles, and added that Argo "doesn't have the component engineering capability that Aptiv has.

"他提到了Aptiv与共享单车公司Lyft的合作关系。他说，这些公司正在测试自动驾驶汽车，并补充说，Argo“不具备Aptiv所具备的部件工程能力”

Investors so far see less value in Argo than companies whose work centers on robotaxis. For example, the company Waymo is valued at $105 billion. Another, Cruise, is valued at $19 billion.

迄今为止，投资者对ARGO的价值低于那些以机器人出租车为中心的公司。例如，Waymo公司的估值为1050亿美元。另一个叫克鲁斯，价值190亿美元。

Argo's value is estimated at $7.25 billion following Volkswagen's $1.9 billion investment.

在大众汽车投资19亿美元后，Argo的价值估计为72.5亿美元。