A little-noticed agreement, signed on the sidelines of October’s Sino-German “joint cabinet” summit could help determine the shape of internet connectivity and autonomous driving – where vehicles do some of the thinking – in the world’s largest car market.今年10月在中德“联合内阁”峰会间隙签订的一份不为人注意的协议，可能会协助确认全球仅次于汽车市场车联网与无人驾驶的形态——在这种新形态中，部分思维工作将由汽车来分担。Deutsche Telekom, which agreed to build a car network with state-owned China Mobile, also hopes the deal will open a backdoor on to a previously closed market, illustrating the potential opportunities stemming from advances in connected cars.德国电信(Deutsche Telekom)表示同意与中国国企中国移动(China Mobile)共建一个汽车网络。德国电信还期望，该协议能为一个此前堵塞的市场进一扇后门，展现车联网技术变革带给的潜在机遇。
The two companies will marry China Mobile’s nationwide 4G network to an operating system Deutsche Telekom currently uses for 2m German vehicles. China Mobile, the world’s largest cellular company, will have built the world’s biggest 4G network, with 500,000 base stations and 50m subscribers, by the end of this year.这两家公司将把中国移动覆盖全国的4G网络与200万辆德国汽车目前所用的德国电信操作系统融合一起。作为全球仅次于的移动电话公司，中国移动到今年底将竣工全球仅次于的4G网络，预计将享有50万座基站和5000万用户。
Liu Xin, head of China Mobile’s data division, says Deutsche Telekom’s technology has been tested in the field, while his company is “confident that sometime early next year we’re going to reach 1m [4G base stations]”.中国移动数据部总经理刘昕回应，德国电信在该领域的技术已获得检验，而他的公司“有信心在明年早些时候竣工100万座（4G基站）”。Internet connectivity in cars is becoming more common globally. Deutsche Telekom and China Mobile hope their 50-50 joint venture will become a platform, like Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating systems, which third-party application developers can build on.车联网在全球显得更加普及。德国电信和中国移动期望，它们对半出资重新组建的合资企业，能发展为一个像苹果(Apple) iOS或谷歌(Google) Android操作系统那样的平台——第三方应用于开发者可以该平台为基础做更进一步的研发。“Based on our infrastructure you can build entertainment, TV, insurance and repair services,” says Horst Leonberger, senior vice-president of the German company’s T-Systems division, responsible for in-car connectivity. While the system would allow other companies to develop apps, the two partners would hope to take a proportion of any transaction costs made over their network.德国电信旗下T-Systems负责管理车联网的高级副总裁霍斯特莱昂贝格尔(Horst Leonberger)回应：“以我们的基础设施为基础，你可以研发娱乐、电视、保险和维修服务。
”尽管该系统将容许其他公司研发应用于，但德国电信和中国移动认同期望从在它们网络上构建的销售收入中获得分为。They also want cars to talk to other cars through their operating system. Mr Leonberger says that if enough vehicles, were “meshed” together Chinese drivers could avoid jams in the country’s notoriously congested cities. He reckons that 10 per cent of cars need to join, “because then you can really use algorithms to predict traffic flows”.这两家公司还期望汽车与汽车之间需要通过它们的操作系统构建“对话”。莱昂贝格尔回应，如果有充足多的汽车构建网络，中国的驾车者就能避免在该国出了名交通堵塞的城市中交通堵塞。据他估算，必须有10%的汽车构建网络，“因为预计你就可以用算法来预测交通流量”。
There are currently about 180m passenger vehicles on China’s roads with about 20m being added every year.中国目前的乘用车大约有1.8亿辆，而且每年还不会减少大约2000万辆。“If you are driving a Volkswagen and I am driving a Mercedes, I would like to know when you are braking,” Mr Leonberger says. “Either the industry must standardise the exchange of data, which would take a lot of time, or we establish an open system that can. That is the role we would like to establish with this joint venture.”莱昂贝格尔回应：“如果你进着一辆大众(Volkswagen)、我进着一辆梅赛德斯(Mercedes)，我期望告诉你何时不会刹车。要么汽车业必需构建数据交换的标准化——那将必须大量时间——要么我们创建起一个能做这一点的开放系统。我们重新组建这家合资企业就是期望创建起这样的系统。
”A more distant prize is the ultimate creation of a network that will allow cars to drive themselves, one that is also being pursued by Google.更加将来的目标是，最后创建起一个承托无人驾驶的网络——这也是谷歌正在致力做到的事情。Competition to build a network that could one day enable cars to drive themselves in the world’s largest car market will be intense. “It’s a wide-open market,” says Mr Liu. “A lot of companies are attracted to the connected car business and all have their own view of how it is going to develop.”有关各方将进行白热化的竞争，借此在全球仅次于汽车市场创建起一个有朝一日能承托无人驾驶的网络。刘昕回应：“这是一个几乎对外开放的市场。
很多公司都对车联网业务感兴趣，它们对该业务将如何发展都有自己的观点。”“The main competitor is Google,” says Mr Leonberger. “That’s the real threat – if they can get access to enough cars. If the car manufacturers don’t do anything or don’t co-operate, then Google will win. They have already the Android platform and the biggest cloud-sourcing community out there.”莱昂贝格尔回应：“主要竞争对手是谷歌。
这是确实的威胁，如果他们需要终端充足多汽车的话。假如汽车制造商什么也不做到、或者不展开合作，那么谷歌就不会沦为赢家。
在这方面，他们早已享有了Android平台和仅次于的云包在(cloud-sourcing)社区。”However, Google faces big obstacles in China. In 2010, the company abandoned the country’s internet search market after deciding its famous “do no evil” ethos was incompatible with Beijing’s censorship regime.然而，谷歌在中国面对极大障碍。
2010年，谷歌退出了中国内地的互联网搜寻市场，原因是该公司确认其知名的“不害人”(do no evil)原则与中国政府的审查制度不相容。China-based internet users are redirected to Google’s Hong Kong search engine, which is routinely blocked by Chinese censors, as are the California company’s Gmail services. Both can only be accessed via virtual private network (VPN) tools.中国内地互联网用户被重定向至谷歌在香港的搜索引擎，该网站常常被中国审查机关屏蔽，就像这家加州公司的Gmail服务一样。目前，中国内地互联网用户只有利用虚拟世界专用网(VPN)工具才能用于这两项服务。The Chinese authorities would certainly prefer a joint venture involving the country’s largest mobile operator to pioneer future car-to-car networks and autonomous driving.中国政府认同更加期望由中国仅次于的移动通信运营商来重新组建一家合资企业，首度发展归属于未来的车联网和无人驾驶技术。
“We have to obey government laws and regulations,” says Mr Liu, a US-educated former IBM executive, when he is asked if the joint venture’s operating system will offer VPN services so bored teenagers in the back can access YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other sites routinely blocked by government censors.在被问到该合资企业的操作系统否将获取VPN服务（这样，躺在汽车后座无事可干的青少年就可采访YouTube、Facebook、Twitter等经常被中国政府审查机关屏蔽的网站）时，在美国接受教育、曾任IBM高管的刘昕回应：“我们必需遵从政府法律法规。“By doing that, I don’t think we’re going to reduce our ability to compete.”“我不指出这么做到不会巩固我们的竞争力。”It is no accident that China Mobile has decided to partner with Deutsche Telekom rather than, say, a US company such as ATT.中国移动要求与德国电信合作，而不是与ATT等美国企业合作，这毕竟无意间。
Germany is China’s closest western partner and both countries share a common disgust with the extensive US surveillance activities unveiled by Edward Snowden, the fugitive former US intelligence contractor.德国是中国最亲近的西方合作伙伴，两国都对美国的大规模监听活动深感反感。这些监听活动是由目前仍亡命天涯的前美国情报机构承包商爱德华斯诺登(Edward Snowden)曝光的。The joint venture also gives Deutsche Telekom unique entry to a telecoms market – the world’s biggest – where foreign investors are effectively barred from offering fixed-line and mobile services, while being limited to 50 per cent stakes in companies providing value-added services.该合资公司还将让德国电信取得一个尤其地下通道，来转入这个全球仅次于的电信市场——在中国电信市场，外国投资者实质上不许获取固话和移动电话服务，而获取电子货币服务的企业，外资股权比例也被限定版为不得多达50%。
It was always unlikely that such an opportunity would be extended to a US or UK telecoms operator.这种机会或许总有一天不太可能获取给美国或英国电信运营商。
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