KEITH BRADSHER2026年4月2日2024年，中国武汉一辆绘有花卉图案的百度萝卜快跑网约车。这些车辆已成为武汉街头常见的景象。 Qilai Shen for The New York TimesOne of the world’s largest experiments in driverless cars suffered an embarrassing setback as a number of robot taxis abruptly stopped moving in traffic on Tuesday evening in Wuhan, China, stranding their passengers and sometimes blocking other vehicles.全球规模最大的无人驾驶汽车实验项目之一遭遇了令人尴尬的挫折。周二晚间，中国武汉多辆自动驾驶出租车在道路车流中突然停下，导致车内乘客被困，部分车辆还阻挡了其他车辆通行。The police in Wuhan, a large metropolis in central China, announced on Wednesday that it had received a “succession” of reports that self-driving cars had stopped. The cars were part of the extensive Apollo Go program of self-driving cars run in Wuhan by Baidu, a large Chinese internet company.中国中部特大城市武汉警方于周三通报，“陆续接到”报警，称自动驾驶汽车发生停驶。涉事车辆均来自中国大型互联网企业百度在武汉运营的大规模自动驾驶出行项目萝卜快跑。The police said an unspecified “system failure” had occurred, and did not say how many cars had been affected. Baidu has hundreds of the cars in Wuhan, where they have become a common sight.警方表示，事故原因为未明确具体细节的“系统故障”，未披露受影响的车辆数量。百度在武汉已投放数百辆该类自动驾驶车辆，成为当地的常见景象。“Following established contingency plans, the public security traffic control and transportation departments quickly mobilized forces to the scene to dispose of the situation in coordination with Apollo Go company staff,” the police statement said.警方在通报中称：“公安交管、交通运输部门按照预案迅速调集力量赶到现场，会同萝卜快跑公司工作人员开展处置。”Baidu did not have an immediate comment.百度暂未立即就此作出回应。Waymo, an American provider of robot taxis, had a somewhat similar incident last December in San Francisco, when an hourslong power failure prompted Waymo cars there to pull over and stop. Robot taxis are typically programmed to stop if they encounter a completely unfamiliar situation.美国自动驾驶出租车运营商Waymo去年12月在旧金山也曾发生过类似事件：当时一场持续数小时的停电事故导致当地的Waymo自动驾驶车辆纷纷靠边停车。按照常规程序设定，当自动驾驶出租车遇到完全无法识别的陌生场景时，会触发停车指令。However, in the Wuhan incident, a video circulated on Chinese social media shows what appears to be a passenger stranded in an Apollo Go car that has stopped in the least fast lane, but not on the shoulder, of a broad expressway as trucks hurtle past. Two photos on Chinese social media show another Apollo Go car that has stopped in the middle of a highway and appears to have been hit on the back left corner by an orange sport utility vehicle that sits nearby with considerable damage to its right front corner.而武汉此次事件中，中国社交媒体上流传的一段视频显示，一辆萝卜快跑车辆停在了宽阔快速路的最右侧最慢车道，而非应急车道，车内乘客被困，卡车从旁呼啸而过。社交媒体上的另外两张图片显示，另一辆萝卜快跑车辆停在高速公路中央，车左后角似乎被一辆橙色运动型多用途车撞击过，该车停在附近，右前角受损严重。China’s regulators told automakers in early December to delay their plans for the sale of cars with a wide range of self-driving features. The authorities pulled back following a crash of a Xiaomi SU7 a year ago killed three women, all university students. The car disengaged from self-driving mode and asked the driver to take control of the vehicle one second before it hit a concrete construction barrier at 72 miles an hour.去年12月初，中国监管部门曾要求车企推迟销售具备多种自动驾驶功能的汽车的计划。当局这一举措的背景是此前一年的一起小米SU7交通事故，造成三名女大学生身亡。涉事车辆在以约每小时116公里的速度撞上混凝土施工护栏的前一秒，自动驾驶模式解除，系统要求驾驶员接管车辆。In July, China’s state-run television reported that tests on 36 car models from 20 brands had found that slightly fewer than half the cars could safely avoid a crash when they encountered trucks near a construction site at night. Only the two models by Tesla, the American company, had assisted-driving systems that were reliable in a wide range of safety situations, according to the report, which was widely viewed on the Chinese internet.今年7月，中国中央电视台报道称，针对20个品牌的36款智驾车型开展的测试显示，当车辆在夜间靠近施工现场遇到卡车时，仅有略低于半数的车辆能够实现安全避让。这份在国内互联网上广泛传播的报道显示，只有美国特斯拉公司的两款车型配备的辅助驾驶系统在各种安全情境下都表现可靠。Many auto analysts and executives believe that self-driving, which works best with electric cars, could be the next big advance for the industry. They envision hundreds of millions of drivers deciding in the years ahead to leave the driving to computers.众多汽车行业分析师与企业高管认为，与电动汽车适配性最佳的自动驾驶技术或将成为汽车行业下一个重大技术突破。他们预计，未来数年，将有数亿车主选择将驾驶权交给计算机系统。The rise of self-driving technologies threatens to leave behind those automakers in the West and northeast Asia that still emphasize sales of gasoline-powered cars. Gas engines respond much more slowly than electric motors to computerized driving instructions, making it difficult to design a gasoline-powered robot taxi.自动驾驶技术的崛起可能会让欧美、东北亚地区那些仍主打燃油车销售的车企被时代抛下。燃油发动机对计算机驾驶指令的响应速度远慢于电动机，这也为燃油动力自动驾驶出租车的研发设计带来了极大难度。China had a late start in driverless technology but has been quicker to approve widespread testing, while censoring reports of safety problems. In the United States, Waymo and Tesla are making major investments in self-driving. Waymo is also starting to roll out a fleet of robot taxis in London in a highly anticipated program.中国在无人驾驶技术领域起步较晚，但在大规模落地测试的审批上节奏更快，同时对相关安全问题的报道实施审查。在美国，Waymo与特斯拉均在自动驾驶领域投入了巨额资金；备受市场关注的是，Waymo也已启动在伦敦投放自动驾驶出租车车队的项目。Baidu announced last August that it would supply Lyft, an American ride-hailing service, with robot taxis to be operated this year in Germany and Britain, subject to regulatory approval. Momenta, a Chinese autonomous driving company, and Uber, the ride-hailing giant, announced last year that they planned a small experiment in Europe with self-driving cars. WeRide, another Chinese company, has begun driverless vehicle projects in Abu Dhabi and Singapore as well as several Chinese cities.去年8月，百度宣布将为美国网约车服务商Lyft供应自动驾驶出租车，计划于今年在德国和英国投入运营，相关计划尚待监管部门审批。中国自动驾驶企业魔门塔与网约车巨头优步于去年宣布，计划在欧洲开展小规模自动驾驶汽车试点项目。另一家中国企业文远知行已在阿布扎比、新加坡以及中国多个城市启动了无人驾驶车辆项目。The timing of the incident in Wuhan is particularly awkward for Baidu and for China, as it comes three weeks before thousands of executives and engineers from automakers around the world are set to converge on Beijing for the city’s auto show. The exhibition has become the world’s premier showcase of automotive innovation as the Chinese government has pushed foreign and domestic manufacturers alike to showcase their latest electric vehicles and other technologies.武汉此次事故发生的时间点对百度乃至中国而言都尤为尴尬：三周后，全球车企的数千名高管与工程师将齐聚北京，参加北京国际车展。随着中国政府推动国内外车企集中展示最新的电动汽车及其他前沿技术，该车展已成为全球首屈一指的汽车创新展示平台。Siyi Zhao和Ruoxin Zhang对本文有研究贡献。Keith Bradsher是《纽约时报》北京分社社长，此前曾任上海分社社长、香港分社社长、底特律分社社长，以及华盛顿记者。他在新冠疫情期间常驻中国进行报道。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。