今天很多人被市场调研公司Navigant的自动驾驶汽车调研报告看傻眼了，因为在这份报告中，福特以排名第一的成绩颠覆了我们原有的印象。很多人以为谷歌或者特斯拉的自动驾驶技术才是最好的，其实这份报告对我们没有多大的参考价值，本着不关我事的原则去看淡这个排名。
但是今天我们要说的是排名第四的戴姆勒和竟然没有上榜的博世。这两家公司今天宣布建立重要伙伴关系，共同开发自动驾驶系统的软件和算法，将奔驰的车辆工程优势和博世的硬件技术相结合，目标是在2021年推出达到L4和L5级别的自动驾驶汽车。
在自动驾驶领域戴姆勒公司早有动作，这次排名第四也证明了技术实力很强。在2014年发布了高速公路自动驾驶连接系统（Highway Pilot Connect）。还拥有汽车分享服务car2go，用户可以通过智能手机找到并租赁戴姆勒车队的汽车。2015年CES上，展示了无人驾驶概念车F 015 Luxury in Motion。2017年宣布和Uber共同开发穿梭于优步召车共乘网络中的无人驾驶汽车。
其实这不是两家公司第一次在自动驾驶领域合作，此前梅赛德斯-奔驰和博世在共同测试一项能够让车位寻找流程变得更简单快捷的全新社区停车智能服务。项目已在斯图加特进行试点，其中囊括了多种不同的奔驰测试车。车载传感器能让这些车辆生成路边空置车位的相关数据，同时通过所配备的通讯界面，提供和接受这些数据。博世在近几年的CES展上也有展示这个社区停车项目。
从自动驾驶的发展情况来看，全球的汽车厂商和科技公司已经加入到开发无人驾驶汽车的比赛中，合作也是层出不穷，很多汽车制造商，供应商和技术公司意识到合作的优点。比如：百度和福田等国内汽车企业，菲亚特克莱斯勒和谷歌，沃尔沃和Uber，德尔福和Mobileye ，现在戴姆勒和博世也走在了一起（戴姆勒和Uber也有合作），也许大家都很清楚自动驾驶还要很长的路要走，需要各个公司联合起来共同努力，汇集资源并研究推动自动驾驶汽车项目。
《Daimler and Bosch join forces to build level 4 and 5 autonomous driving systems》
Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler, announced today an important partnership with German auto supplier Bosch to develop self-driving technology aimed at the taxi and ridesharing industries.
The agreement includes the goal to reach level 4 and 5 autonomous driving systems “by the start of the next decade” – 2020-2021 – which is in line with each company’s previous timelines for autonomous driving.
Daimler and Bosch, both Germany-based companies, have been developing self-driving technologies on their own and through different partnerships in the industry, but this new alliance appears to be a more important step for each company.
They wrote in a press release today:
“The objective is the joint development of software and algorithms for an autonomous driving system. The project will take the comprehensive vehicle expertise of Daimler – the world’s leading premium-class automaker – and combine it with the systems and hardware expertise of Bosch, the world’s biggest automotive supplier. The synergies that arise as a result will be channeled into making this technology ready for production as early as possible.”
Bosch has probably the most impressive self-driving program out of the two companies right now. They supply parts, like the radar antenna, for Tesla’s Autopilot program and they used Tesla’s vehicles to develop their own self-driving software on an updated hardware suite.
Last year, they deployed a Tesla Model S self-driving prototype in Australia and they showed a new Model S prototype with similar capabilities as Tesla’s Enhanced Autopilot.
On the other hand, Daimler has been working on self-driving with the gradual approach of implementing autonomous driver assist features in its vehicles – like the level 2 features in the Mercedes E-Class.
The company has been working with suppliers like Mobileye, Tesla’s former Autopilot supplier, to deliver the system.
But the goal of the partnership looks beyond level 2 driving and leapfrogs the level 3 to reach level 4 and 5, which are fully autonomous driving systems in some and all conditions respectively. Those levels of autonomous driving are essential to create any driverless taxi service or ride-sharing service, which seem to be the goal here.