????扣好安全帶后，這輛車就悄無聲息地啟動了。現在想來，雷曼在試駕中從來沒有碰過那個小小的方向盤，也沒踩過油門或剎車。當車子在寬闊的路面上劃弧時，我突然產生了一種在游樂園坐旋轉木馬的感覺。車子行駛了幾圈后，雷曼按下了座椅旁邊的一個按鈕，把他的座椅轉向了后邊，然后建議我也這樣做。

????既然未來就是這樣的，我又何樂而不為呢？所以我們都把座椅轉了過去，面對著后排座位上的兩名乘客。這時我們的感覺就好像坐在酒店的大廳里交談一樣——除了汽車仍在行駛，盡管它的移動速度一直沒有超過每小時25英里。一股無法扼制的欲望驅使著我不時地回頭觀察前方路況，一遍又一遍。

????隨著車子繼續行駛，我們又把注意力轉移到了汽車的內飾上。奔馳的代表喜歡把這輛原型車稱作“繭”，意思是說它就像一個舒適的私人寓所。沒有了盯著路面的負擔，駕駛員可以在行駛的過程中放松一下，把車子當成私人臥室來打個盹，或是看看書、玩玩安裝在幾乎每一個平面上的觸摸屏。

????這些觸屏上顯示的是什么呢？有巴黎盧浮宮的360度全景照片，還有森林田園風光。理論上，車主可以在旅行的過程中向乘客炫耀一下他旅行的照片、放放電影、搜索一下附近的自駕旅行景點信息，或是給朋友打個視頻電話什么的。

????不過其中很多功能目前還僅僅停留在理論上。奔馳公司也坦承，我們試乘的這款概念車的功能還不充分。它更多是一種靈感的啟迪，告訴我們當所有監管和技術問題都解決之后，未來的汽車會是什么樣子。實際上，在城市道路中駕駛這輛汽車是違法的，因為它目前還缺乏充分的自主性（它的駕駛系統是專門根據這個空軍基地設計的），而且也沒有安裝氣囊等必要的安全措施。

????奔馳公司的確也有一些已經在公路上經過合法測試的無人駕駛汽車。不過它們都是現有量產車型的改款，缺乏F 015這樣的視覺吸引力。

????F 015的一些高科技“魔法”顯然還在持續改進中。比如，為了更好地與行人進行溝通，奔馳設計了一套“燈光語言”。如果車子接近正在等候過馬路的行人，它會自動停下來，使用鐳射燈發出類似綠燈一樣的信號，讓行人先過馬路。目前的問題是，在日光下很難看見這種信號。

????在未來，正如奔馳公司預見的那樣，隨著城市人口變得愈發擁擠，汽車與行人共享空間的情景將變得更加普遍。為了盡早應對這種狀況，奔馳正在暢想怎樣做才能對車輛和行人更安全、更方便。不管怎么說，無人駕駛技術正在慢慢發力。許多量產車型已經搭載了防碰撞系統、自動駐車和巡航控制系統等基本的無人駕駛功能。

????但完全的無人駕駛汽車要想投入商用，還需要很多年的時間。即便是到了那個時候，法律也不太可能允許駕駛員把座椅轉向后方，并不是說駕駛員自己不想。（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????審校：任文科

????After buckling our seat belts, and with little fanfare, the car started to slowly roll across the pavement. Lehmann never touched the tiny steering wheel, which seemed like an afterthought, or used the gas and brake peddles. I felt like I was on an amusement park ride as the car made arcs across the vast expanse of open pavement. After we made a few loops, Lehmann pressed a button on the side of the seat to swivel his chair to face backwards and suggested I do the same.

????This is the future, so why not? And so we spun around to face two fellow passengers in the back seats. We talked like we were sitting in a hotel lobby—except the car was still moving, albeit probably never faster than 25 miles per hour. I repeatedly felt an uncontrollable urge to turn my head and peek ahead to make sure the route ahead was clear. I gave in, over and over.

????As we moved along, we turned our attention to the car’s interior. Mercedes representatives liked to describe it as a “cocoon,” suggesting a sort of private retreat. Unburdened from staring at the road, drivers can instead relax during rides and use the car as a personalized living room for napping, reading, or futzing with the touch screens installed on nearly every flat surface.

????And displayed on those screens? Photos showing a 360-degree panorama of the Louvre museum in Paris and bucolic forest scenes. In theory, car owners could show off their vacation photos, play movies, get information about potential sightseeing side trips nearby, or make video calls with friends.

????Much of that is purely theoretical at this point. Indeed, the concept car isn’t really fully functional, Mercedes acknowledges. It’s more of a source of inspiration that assumes all regulatory and technical hurdles have already been worked out. In fact, driving the car on city streets would be illegal because the car lacks full-autonomy (it was programmed specifically for the airfield) and is without some required safety features like air bags.

????Mercedes does have driverless cars that it legally tests on public roads. However, they are modified production cars that lack the visual pizzaz of the F 015.

????Some of the F 015’s high-tech wizardry is clearly still being worked on. For example, Mercedes has come up with a sort of light show to a better communicate with pedestrians. If the car comes across people waiting to cross the road, it stops and uses a laser to project what looks like a green crosswalk on the street as a signal to walk. The trouble is that such a light show would be invisible in daylight.

????As Mercedes sees it, in the future, cars and pedestrians will increasingly share the same space as cities become more densely populated. The company is hoping to prepare by imagining what it can do to make it safer and more convenient. In any case, driverless technology is slowly gaining momentum. Many production cars already feature more basic versions like collision avoidance systems, automated parking, and cruise control that keeps cars in their lanes.

????But fully autonomous vehicles are still years away from being commercially available. And even then, it’s unlikely that laws will allow drivers to swivel their chairs away from the road. Not that they won’t crave a look.