????想讓業界公認你是業內一線廠商的代價又提高了。比如本月日產公司（Nissan）在加州的紐波特海灘連續第四年迎來了它的“360”試駕活動，來自亞洲、歐洲和美洲的900多名記者云集西海岸，在五條賽道和越野路線上對125輛車進行了試駕評測。值得一提的是，這些路線是日產公司專門為了本次活動而在一個廢棄軍用場附近修建的。其余的時間記者們將在風景如畫、能俯瞰太平洋的鵜鶘山度假村里與公司高管進行交流。內部人士稱，美國記者問的問題最多，歐洲記者喝的飲料最多，而中國記者弄壞的汽車最多。

????舉辦這樣奢華的活動，費用之高也可想而知。如果把差旅費、酒店費和場地費、用車成本、技術展示費用等各種費用都計算在內，那么這場活動的總成本可能高達900萬美元，也就是平均每名客人1萬美元。不過就像日產公司的一名高管解釋的那樣：“既然已經投了幾十億在研發上，再花一點錢展示一下硬件，也完全合情合理。”

????日產公司CEO卡洛斯?高森本來計劃參加在八月底參加本次活動的一個環節，但由于公司高層鬧起了內訌需要他親自彈壓，因而只能遺憾缺席。原因是雷諾公司（Renault）的首席運營官卡洛斯?塔瓦雷斯此前認為他接替高森成為雷諾—日產聯盟的新老板已經是板上釘釘的事，但是現在大家都看出今年59歲的高森并沒有任何退休或放權的跡象。因此55歲的塔瓦雷斯按捺不住心中的不快，公開對彭博社（Bloomberg）一位記者宣布，他將參與競爭通用汽車（General Motors）或福特（Ford ）的下一任CEO職位。兩周后，塔瓦雷斯就從雷諾離職了。

????在高森缺席的情況下，本次日產360活動中最吸引人眼球的并不是有“怪獸哥斯拉”之稱的GT-R超跑，也不是長得像面包車一樣并且即將正式加入紐約黃色出租車隊伍的“明日出租車”，甚至也不是參展的37輛老爺車和概念車里的任何一輛，而是一輛裝配了各種激光、雷達、傳感器和攝相頭的日產聆風（Leaf）電動車，它也是日產公司為了踐行開發量產級自動駕駛汽車的承諾而走出的第一步。

????不過根據我從試駕中了解的情況，“半自動”或許是對它更好的描述。因為這輛車的駕駛座上必須坐著一個看路況的人，以便在緊急情況下可以保持對車輛的控制。另外在擁擠的城市環境中也需要駕駛員的操控，因為這輛車的電子眼和軟件算法尚無法承受過于海量的圖像。不過我從后排座位上看到，在沒有司機指令的情況下，這輛聆風電動車自己打了轉向燈，超過了一輛開得稍慢的車，在高速上表現得很好，而且還繞過了一名行人。

????精確的目標和最終的成果都是卡洛斯?高森非常看重的東西。他承諾在2020年前將推出量產級的半自動化轎車。不過屆時比起技術上的挑戰，法律和保險方面的新問題可能是更亟待解決的，此外還有老百姓的某些行為引發的問題。比如如果汽車實現了自動駕駛，是不是意味著坐在方向盤后頭的那個人就算是發發短信或是開車前喝點小酒也沒關系了？如果他遭遇了車禍，或者他的車制造了車禍，誰該來為他買單？????

????The price of admission to the auto industry's top tier has just gone up. Exhibit One: Nissan's quadriennial 360 event, the latest edition of which concludes this month in Newport Beach, Calif. By the time it is over, more than 900 international journalists from Asia, Europe, and the Americas will be transported to the West Coast to drive some 125 new models and test vehicles on five tracks and off-road courses specially constructed for the occasion at a nearby abandoned Marine airfield. When not behind the wheel, Nissan's guests are socializing with company executives at the lush Pelican Hill resort overlooking the Pacific. Insiders report that American journalists ask the most questions, Europeans consume the most beverages, and the Chinese damage the most cars.

????The bill for this kind of extravaganza is steep. When everything from travel to hotels to the actual costs of staging the event (buildings, cars, technology displays, and so on) is included, the total cost of the event will run about $10,000 per guest -- some $9 million in all. But as one executive explained, "When you spend billions on R&D, investing a few dollars more to show off the hardware makes good sense."

????Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was scheduled to attend a 360 session at the end of August but became a no-show when he had to tamp down an uprising in his executive ranks. One of his protégés, Carlos Tavares, the chief operating officer of Nissan's partner Renault, had seen himself succeeding Ghosn as head of the Nissan-Renault alliance But when it became apparent that Ghosn, 59, wasn't going anywhere, Tavares, 55, made his impatience publicly known by announcing to a Bloomberg reporter that he was making himself a candidate for the CEO job at General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) or Ford (F, Fortune 500) instead. Two weeks later, Tavares was out of his job at Renault

????With Ghosn absent, the biggest attraction at Nissan 360 was not the GT-R supercar known as "Godzilla" or the van-like "taxi of tomorrow" soon to venture onto New York streets as the city's official yellow cab, or even any of the 37 historic and concept cars on display. Rather it was a homely Nissan Leaf outfitted with lasers, radar, sensors, and cameras that is Nissan's down payment on its pledge to develop the first production-capable autonomous vehicle: a car that drives itself.

????As I learned on a test ride, "semi autonomous" is a more accurate description since the driver's seat must still be occupied by someone who has his eyes on the road and can take control in an emergency. A driver is also required in congested urban situations where the jumble of images would overwhelm the capacities of its electronic eyes and software algorithms. But as I watched from the back seat, the battery-powered Leaf overtook and passed a slower vehicle, exited a highway, and swerved around a pedestrian without any guidance from the driver beyond the activation of a turn signal.

????Ghosn loves precise targets almost as much as he loves results, and he promises to have a semi-autonomous car ready to sell by 2020. Looming larger than the technical challenges are the regulatory and insurance issues that need to be solved by then, along with the adoption of common-sense behavioral issues. Does the ability of a car to drive itself mean that the person behind the wheel can text more intently or drink more heavily? And who pays the bills if a mishap befalls him as he does??