第1504期:The sky taxis with no pilots

You know the feeling. You’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s going to be hours before you get home. As we know all too well, congestion is one of the downsides of modern city living. Don’t you wish you could just take to the skies and soar above it all in a helicopter? 

你知道那种感觉。你被困在一个接一个的交通中。在你回家之前还有几个小时。众所周知，拥堵是现代城市生活的弊端之一。你不希望你可以乘坐直升机飞上天空并翱翔于一切之上吗？

Well, wish no more. Right now, the race is on to release the first commercially viable sky taxi. No longer will personal air travel be the preserve of the super wealthy, say optimistic tech entrepreneurs. There’s just one catch: how do you feel about having no pilot? 

好吧，不要再希望了。目前，推出第一款商业上可行的空中出租车的竞赛正在进行中。乐观的科技企业家说，私人航空旅行不再是超级富豪的专利。只有一个问题：你觉得没有飞行员怎么样？

For brave passengers, the city of Dubai plans to roll out rides on their pilotless drone taxi project by the end of this year. You can buckle up and share the ride with one other passenger in their 18-rotor craft, developed by German start-up Volocopter, with a top speed of 100km/h and a flight time of around 30 minutes. 

对于勇敢的乘客，迪拜市计划在今年年底前推出无人驾驶出租车项目。您可以系好安全带并与另一位乘客一起乘坐由德国初创公司 Volocopter 开发的 18 旋翼飞行器，最高时速为 100 公里/小时，飞行时间约为 30 分钟。

If you have more friends, French aviation company Airbus are working on a drone which can carry four to six customers. Or if you prefer your own company, Chinese firm Ehang are pioneering a single-seater drone, which stays airborne for 23 minutes.

如果你有更多的朋友，法国航空公司空中客车公司正在研制一种可以搭载四到六个客户的无人机。或者，如果你更喜欢自己的公司，中国公司亿航正在开创一种单座无人机，它可以在空中停留 23 分钟。

Ride-hailing company Uber also want a piece of the action. They say drones like this are the “future of on-demand urban air transportation”. They recently poached NASA chief technologist Mark Moore to help them develop a drone taxi. And he claims it won’t cost the earth. Moore told the BBC that with three or four passengers sharing, it would be “very similar to what an UberX [car] costs today”.

叫车公司优步也想分一杯羹。他们说像这样的无人机是“按需城市航空运输的未来”。他们最近挖走了美国宇航局首席技术专家马克摩尔，帮助他们开发无人驾驶出租车。他声称这不会花费地球。摩尔告诉英国广播公司，三到四名乘客共享，这将“与今天 UberX [汽车] 的成本非常相似”。

So far so good. But naturally, a number of questions remain. On the technical side, there’s the problem of batteries. A 23-minute flight could get you across town, but how and where does the battery recharge?

到目前为止，一切都很好。但自然地，仍然存在许多问题。在技术方面，存在电池问题。23 分钟的飞行可以让您穿越城镇，但电池如何以及在哪里充电？

And regulations are a challenge too. US authorities require aircraft to carry at least 20 minutes of spare fuel. If you only have 23 or even 30 in total, that leaves very little leeway. Control of access to flight paths will also need to be worked out.

监管也是一个挑战。美国当局要求飞机携带至少 20 分钟的备用燃料。如果你总共只有 23 个甚至 30 个，那么余地很小。还需要制定对飞行路径的控制。

Even if these issues are tackled successfully, there’s still the biggie: safety. Will passengers really be willing to put their lives in the hands of a flying robot? Winning the trust of the regulators and the public may take time. But when they do, well, the sky’s the limit.

即使成功解决了这些问题，仍然有一个大问题：安全。乘客真的愿意将自己的生命交给飞行机器人吗？赢得监管机构和公众的信任可能需要时间。但是当他们这样做时，好吧，天空就是极限。

bumper-to-bumper （交通）非常拥堵的
congestion 堵车，交通堵塞
to take to the skies 冲上云霄
the race is on 竞争已经开始
viable 可行的，有望成功的
preserve （某类人群的）专利
catch 暗藏的问题
drone 无人驾驶的飞机
to buckle up 系好安全带
craft 飞行器
aviation 航空
airborne 在空中的
ride-hailing （提供）叫车（服务）的
a piece of the action （口语）分一杯羹
on-demand 按需的
to cost the earth （英式口语）漫天要价
leeway 富余的时间
flight path 飞行的路线，航线
biggie （口语）重要的事情
the sky's the limit “天空是极限”，没有做不到的事情