福特取消心臟病監測座椅研發項目
Ford has quietly scrapped a project to develop driving seats that can detect heart attacks, blaming cheaper and more accurate wearable technology on a move that underlines the rapid pace of innovation carmakers need to maintain in the era of the connected car.
福特(Ford)悄悄地取消了一項能探測到心臟病的駕駛座椅開發項目，將其歸因於更便宜、更精準的可穿戴設備。此舉凸顯出汽車廠商在汽車互聯時代需要維持的快速創新步伐。
The US carmaker and its rivals are jostling to be seen as leaders in new car technologies. Ford, which opened an expanded research office in Silicon Valley this year, recently launched a people carrier that can read speed limit signs and adjust the throttle accordingly.
這家美國汽車公司及其對手正爭相成爲人們眼中的汽車新技術領導者。今年，福特在硅谷設立了一個龐大的研究辦公室。不久前，福特推出了一款能察覺超速跡象並相應調節油門的小客車。The wider motor industry is fighting to keep up with demands from consumers for greater connectivity inside the vehicle while heading off the threat posed by new entrants such as Tesla, Google and, potentially, Apple .
整個汽車行業正在努力跟上消費者對於提高車內互聯程度的需求，同時抵擋來自特斯拉(Tesla)、谷歌(Google)——可能還有蘋果(Apple)——等新進入者造成的威脅。
Ford said in October that it was working on a seat that could monitor a driver’s cardiovascular system for irregularities. Using a camera and sensors on the steering wheel, the technology could potentially spot a heart attack and engage steering and braking systems to bring the car safely to a halt.
福特去年10月表示，該公司正在研製一款能夠監測駕駛員心血管系統是否異常的座椅。通過方向盤上的一個攝像頭和多個傳感器，該技術可能發覺心臟病症狀，並接管駕駛和剎車系統，讓汽車安全地停下來。But the company told the Financial Times it was “transitioning away” from the research project, saying advancements in wearable technology meant it was “looking at different avenues for health and wellness monitoring”.
但福特對英國《金融時報》表示，其正從該研究項目“轉移”。福特表示，可穿戴技術的進步使其正在“考慮健康和安全狀況監測的不同途徑”。It declined to say how much it had spent on the project — out of a total research and development budget of $5.5bn in 2014.
福特拒絕透露已在該項目上投資的金額。2014年，福特的總研發預算金額爲55億美元。“New sensor technology and wearables will provide more precise measurements that will improve the experience we can offer,” the company said. “We need to be smart and move at the pace of technology . . . to stay ahead of consumer trends.”
“新的傳感器和可穿戴技術將提供更精準的測量手段，將改進我們所能提供的體驗，”福特表示，“我們必須敏銳，跟上技術發展的速度……以走在消費者趨勢的前面。”Carmakers fear that the future value of the car will be in the electronic technology and software “brains” linking the functions, rather than the steel they have been engineering for decades.
汽車製造商擔心，未來汽車的價值將體現在聯接不同功能的電子技術和軟件“大腦”上，而不是他們設計製造了幾十年的鋼鐵製成品。“What the tech sector sees is a legacy industry that is slow to move,” said one senior industry insider.
“技術行業看到的是一個移動緩慢的老邁行業，”一位汽車業內資深人士表示。Thilo Koslowski, automotive practice leader at consultancy Gartner, said: “Automotive companies are clearly still figuring out their role in a consumer electronics-dominated world.”
諮詢公司高德納(Gartner)的汽車業主管蒂洛•科斯洛夫斯基(Thilo Koslowski)表示：“很明顯，汽車公司仍在思考自己在以消費電子爲主導的世界裏能扮演何種角色。”He said some investments would prove fruitless but added: “That’s a small price to pay when compared to the other option of being reduced to a simple device maker and being at the mercy of other industry leaders.”
他表示，有些投資將是毫無成果的，但補充道：“與降格爲簡單的設備製造商、自身命運被其他行業的領導者所掌握的另一個結局相比，這是個很小的代價。”
