谷歌创始人投资的“空中出租车”在新西兰秘密测试

A flying car start-up backed by Google founder Larry Page has been secretly testing an electric autonomous aircraft for several months in New Zealand, the company revealed on Tuesday.

一家获得谷歌(Google)创始人拉里•佩奇(Larry Page)投资的飞行汽车初创公司周二透露，该公司数月来一直在新西兰秘密测试一款电动的自主驾驶飞行器。

Silicon Valley-based Kitty Hawk hopes its Cora aircraft will form the basis of an airborne taxi service in the next few years, after it began testing in New Zealand late last year.

总部设在硅谷的Kitty Hawk希望，这款Cora飞行器将在未来几年成为一项空中出租车服务的基础。该公司是去年末开始在新西兰进行测试的。

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, unveiled the venture on Tuesday alongside Fred Reid, chief executive of Zephyr Airworks, Kitty Hawk’s operator in the country.

新西兰总理杰辛达•阿德恩(Jacinda Ardern)周二与Kitty Hawk在新西兰的运营商Zephyr Airworks的首席执行官弗雷德•里德(Fred Reid)一同公布了这个项目。

“Cora rises like a helicopter and flies like a plane, eliminating the need for a runway and creating the possibility of taking off from places like rooftops,” the company said on its website. “Cora will use self-flying software combined with human oversight to make flying possible for people without training.”

“Cora像直升机一样升空，像飞机一样飞行，所以不需要跑道，并具备从屋顶等地方起飞的可能性。”该公司在其网站上描述称，“Cora将使用自动飞行软件，配合人的照管，没有受过训练的人也能够飞行。”

A confluence of technologies including electric motors and batteries, autonomous navigation systems and even consumer drones has drawn companies including Uber and Airbus to invest in vehicles that can fly themselves, removing the need for a trained pilot to be on board. The capability for “vertical take-off and landing” (VTOL) promises to open transportation options, from commuter services to drone deliveries.

电动车和电池、自主导航系统甚至消费级无人机等技术的交汇，吸引了优步(Uber)和空客(Airbus)等公司投资能够自动飞行、无需受过训练的飞行员驾驶的飞行器。这种飞行器能够“垂直起降”(VTOL)，这有望拓宽运输用途，可以应用于从通勤到无人机送货等领域。

Kitty Hawk, which is named after the location of the Wright brothers’ early flight trials, has been funded by Mr Page personally, outside the Alphabet group.

以莱特兄弟(Wright brothers)早期飞行试验地点命名的Kitty Hawk获得了佩奇以个人名义进行的投资，与Alphabet集团无关。

Led by Sebastian Thrun, who is also a founder of Google’s self-driving car programme and online education service Udacity, Kitty Hawk operated largely in secret until April 2017, when it unveiled a prototype of its Flyer — a single-person ultralight aircraft powered by eight electric rotors.

Kitty Hawk的掌门人塞巴斯蒂安•特龙(Sebastian Thrun)也是谷歌自动驾驶汽车项目以及在线教育服务优达学城(Udacity)的创始人，在他的带领下，Kitty Hawk基本上处于秘密运营状态，直到2017年4月公布Flyer原型机——一款由8台电动机驱动的单人超轻飞行器。

The Flyer is designed to be used only over water and sold to private individuals. Cora is a more ambitious vehicle, with 12 independent rotors capable of carrying two people at heights of between 150 metres and 900 metres. With a range of 100 kilometres and a top speed of 177kph, Cora has three independent flight-computers to ensure back up in the event of a failure.

Flyer仅能在水面上使用，面向私人用户销售。而承载更大抱负的Cora配备12台独立发动机，载客数为二人，飞行高度为150米到900米之间。Cora的最大飞行距离为100公里，最高速度每小时177公里。Cora配备三台独立的飞行计算机，以确保在发生故障时有备用计算机。

“Kitty Hawk's mission is to completely change the way we get around. We succeed if everyone chooses to fly every day,” said Mr Thrun. “With our prototype air taxi Cora, we are applying eight years of research and development into an entirely new way to commute.”

“Kitty Hawk的使命是彻底改变我们的出行方式。如果每个人每天都选择飞行，我们就成功了。”特龙说，“通过我们的空中出租车原型机Cora，我们正将8年来的研究和开发成果应用于打造一种全新的通勤方式。”

Kitty Hawk envisages eventually operating a service “similar to an airline or a rideshare”. The company has received an “experimental airworthiness certificate” for Cora in New Zealand and the US. The company would not comment further on its plans or tests in the US market.

Kitty Hawk设想最终能够运营一种“类似航空公司或者拼车”的服务。该公司已经在新西兰和美国取得Cora的“实验类适航证”。Kitty Hawk不愿多谈其在美国市场的计划或者试验情况。

New Zealand is positioning itself as a global hub for research and development, particularly in the aerospace sector. Martin Jetpack, which describes itself as the developer of the world’s first commercial jetpack, is based in Christchurch. Rocket Lab, a company founded Peter Beck, a New Zealand inventor, recently blasted three satellites into orbit from a private launch pad based on an 3,200 hectare sheep and cattle farm.

新西兰的自我定位是全球研发中心，尤其是在航空航天领域。自称世界首款商用喷气背包开发商的Martin Jetpack位于基督城(Christchurch)。新西兰发明家彼得•贝克(Peter Beck)创立的公司Rocket Lab最近通过一个建立在面积为3200公顷的牛羊养殖场上的私人发射台将三颗卫星送入了轨道。

“I’m really thrilled to see New Zealand endorsed as a place where exciting companies want to do business,” said Ms Ardern. “Innovation is in our DNA — Kiwis love a challenge and pushing the envelope and I think it’s that spirit that resonates with innovators around the world.”

“我非常激动的看到，新西兰获得了认可，成为了那些令人兴奋的公司想要在此发展业务的地方。”阿德恩说，“创新就在我们的DNA中——新西兰人热爱挑战和打破极限，我认为这种精神将引起世界各地的创新人士的共鸣。”

Long dreamt of in science fiction, flying cars are now seeing a wave of investment to become a reality. Uber has formed a dedicated division called Elevate that plans to demonstrate flying vehicles by 2020 in Dubai and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in partnership with aerospace companies such as Embraer and Pipistrel.

在科幻小说中，人们对飞行汽车渴望已久。现在，一波投资将使飞行汽车变为现实。优步已经组建了一个名为Elevate的专门部门，计划通过与巴西航空工业公司(Embraer)和Pipistrel等航空公司合作，到2020年在迪拜和达拉斯-沃斯堡(Dallas-Fort Worth)地区展示其飞行器。

Last month, Airbus’s Silicon Valley-based division A3 said its Vahana prototype had completed its first test flight. Smaller start-ups targeting pilotless passenger aircraft include Lilium, Joby and Terrafugia. Last September, Munich-based Lilium raised $90m from Tencent and venture firms including Niklas Zennstrom’s Atomico and Evan Williams’ Obvious Ventures.

上个月，空客旗下设在硅谷的公司A3表示，其原型机Vahana已经完成首次试飞。无人驾驶载客飞行器领域规模较小的初创公司包括Lilium、Joby和Terrafugia。去年9月，总部位于慕尼黑的Lilium从科技公司腾讯(Tencent)，以及尼古拉斯•占斯特姆(Niklas Zennstrom)的Atomico和埃文•威廉姆斯(Evan Williams)的Obvious Ventures等风投公司募集到9000万美元。