????今年6月，當蒂姆?庫克在蘋果開發者大會（AppleWorldwide Developer's Conference）的展臺上介紹Anki首席執行官鮑里斯?索夫曼時，不少人都好奇索夫曼是何許人也。一個甚至還沒有上市、默默無聞的初創公司憑什么就能在最令人期待的技術盛會之一中占據顯要的位置。索夫曼的解釋很簡單：“我們真正用全新的方式利用了現有的設備，蘋果對此十分激動。”

????激動的并不只是蘋果公司的領袖們。風險投資家馬克?安德森稱，Anki是他所見過的“史上最優秀的機器人初創公司”。迪士尼（Disney）前董事長和公司顧問邁克爾?奧維茨表現出了同樣的熱情。最近他對《財富》雜志表示：“從他們的演示中，我看見了未來的藍圖。”

????現在，索夫曼和共同創始人漢斯?塔普尼爾和馬克?普拉圖西必須證明，他們的產品當得起這些贊美，更重要的是，他們還要證明自己值得從風投公司指數創投（Index Ventures）、,安德森-霍洛維茨基金（Andreessen Horowitz）和Two Sigma Ventures拉到的那5,000萬美元投資。Anki的第一款產品是一款名為Anki Drive的賽車游戲，將于10月23日在美國的Apple Stores、Apple.com和Anki.com上架。售價199美元的標準游戲套件中包含大型賽車跑道，兩輛玩具大小的汽車和充電器。（買家還能以每輛69美元的價格買到兩種額外的車型。）對應的手機應用可以在裝有iOS系統的設備上使用，包括iPhone 4S及更高型號的手機。

????它的運行模式是：它推出一款手機應用，采用了Anki研制的獨特且非常復雜的人工智能，賦予了玩具汽車虛擬生命。每輛汽車都裝有發射和接收數據的光學傳感器。汽車設計師是哈拉爾德?貝爾克，他的一些創造還曾出現在《少數派報告》（Minority Report）這些電影中。這些汽車可以自動在拐角處轉彎，在競速中還能改變比賽策略——索夫曼在今年早些時候蘋果的開發者大會上演示了這個特性。汽車充滿電需要7-8分鐘，然后就能一口氣跑上25分鐘。

????不過Anki Drive的人工智能創造了非常易于上手的體驗，無論玩家是5歲還是35歲，是脾氣暴躁的玩家還是笨拙的新手。（借助這個特色，玩家很少會偏離軌道，除非他們被對手的車撞出去。）使用Anki Drive應用的控制方式被簡化為加速和減速、左轉和右轉。玩家還能按下他們汽車的特殊武器：讓前面的車減速的牽引光束，耗盡對手能量的軌道炮等等。每輛車都各有千秋——有的可能更敏捷，還有的速度更快。玩家每場比賽都可以贏得免費的虛擬積分，并在游戲中給這些特性升級。

????我是傳統賽車游戲比如《山脊賽車》（Ridge Racer）、《GT賽車》（Gran Turismo）、甚至《頂尖車手》（Pole Position）的老玩家，自認是個賽車迷，盡管我需要一些時間才能掌握游戲的竅門。而正如索夫曼和塔普尼爾在游戲教學中保證的那樣，我花了不到兩分鐘就上手了Anki Drive。左轉右轉，在比賽中跑圈（塔普尼爾所說的），這一切似乎都無比簡單。不過當索夫曼加了一臺電腦控制的專家級汽車之后，它便一再地緊跟然后超過我。我意識到，對于想要徹底精通游戲的人而言，Anki Drive的易于上手后面隱藏了極為陡峭的學習曲線。

????When Tim Cook introduced Anki CEO Boris Sofman onstage at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference this June, more than a few audience members wondered who Sofman was and how an unknown startup -- one that hadn't launched -- snagged a primo slot at one of the most anticipated tech events. "Apple was excited with the fact that we were using those devices in a new way, really," Sofman puts simply.

????The folks over at Cupertino aren't alone. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has called Anki the "best robotics startup" he's ever seen. Former Disney president and company adviser Michael Ovitz was equally enthusiastic. "When they showed it to me, I could see what the future could be," Ovitz told Fortune recently.

????Now, Sofman, along with co-founders HannsTappeiner and Mark Palatucci, must prove their product is worth the buzz, let alone the $50 million in venture-backed funding it has received from Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Two Sigma Ventures. Anki's first product, a racing game called Anki Drive, goes on sale in U.S. Apple (AAPL) stores, Apple.com, and Anki.com starting October 23. For $199, the standard base kit will come with a large race track, two toy-sized cars, and chargers. (Two more car types will be available for $69 each.) A companion mobile app will run on iOS devices, including the iPhone 4S and above.

????Here's how it works: The mobile app uses unique, highly sophisticated artificial intelligence developed by Anki to breathe virtual life into the toy cars, each of which contains an optical sensor to send and receive data. Designed by HaraldBelker, whose creations have appeared in films such as Minority Report, these cars can automatically weave round corners and change competitive racing strategies on the fly -- features Sofman first demoed at Apple's conference earlier this year. Cars take 7-8 minutes to fully charge; a full charge offers 25 minutes of non-stop racing.

????But with Anki Drive, the A.I. creates a very accessible experience, whether the player is five- or 35-years-old, a grizzled gamer or a clumsy novice. (Because of it, players will rarely ever veer off course, unless they've been taken out by a competing car.) Steering controls, by way of the Anki Drive app, are boiled down to accelerating and decelerating, and steering left and right. Players can also tap into their car's special weapon: a tractor beam that slows down the car ahead, a rail gun to deplete the opponent's energy, among others. Each car also has defining characteristics -- one may be more agile, another faster -- which can be upgraded throughout the game with free virtual points players accrue with every race.

????As a lifelong gamer raised on traditional racing titles like Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, even Pole Position, I've always thought of myself as a racing aficionado, albeit one who needed time to get the hang of gameplay. Anki Drive, performed as Sofman and Tappeiner promised in that learning how to get around the track took less than two minutes. Swerving left to right, reeling in the competition (in this case, Tappeiner), all seemed incredibly easy. But when Sofman dropped in an A.I.-controlled car programmed at an expert setting and it repeatedly tailgated me and shot me down, I realized that Anki Drive's easy access belies a potentially steep learning curve for players who care to master the game.