Uber爲什麼要砸30億重金買諾基亞地圖

Ride-hailing company Uber is willing to pay up to $3 billion for HERE, a Nokia-owned mapping service that competes with Google Maps, the New York Times reports.

據《紐約時報》報道，租車服務公司Uber有意以30億美元收購諾基亞旗下的地圖服務HERE，後者與谷歌地圖一直在競爭。

Nokia, a Finnish company you probably best know for itstrademark and stubbornly infectious ringtone, is undergoing a highly transformative shift. Once a leading smartphone maker, it’s now focusing networking hardware business. The biggest sign of that shift: Nokia sold its handset division to Microsoft for more than $7 billion last year. So it makes sense for Nokia to want to unload its mapping unit, for which it could earn a pretty penny while also increasing the company’s focus.

芬蘭公司諾基亞留給人們最深的印象，可能是它的商標和熟悉的手機鈴聲。該公司正在經歷大規模的轉型，這家曾經的手機巨頭如今正專注於網絡硬件業務。最大轉型標誌是，公司在去年以70億美元的價格將手機部門賣給了微軟。所以，諾基亞想要出售地圖部門也不難理解，這不僅能給公司帶來一大筆資金，還能提高公司的專注度。

But why would Uber want a mapping company? Two reasons.

不過Uber爲何想買一家地圖公司？原因有二。

Uber’s backend systems are powered by Google Maps. When you load up Uber’s app and drop a pin for a pickup, that’s Google Maps. When your driver is following GPS directions to your destination, that’s Google Maps too. Uber’s recent moves into shipping packages rather than people signal it’s interested in becoming more of a full-on logistics company, akin more to UPS than your local yellow cab service. For Uber, having its own mapping unit would reduce its dependence on another company — Google — while it continues to evolve.

Uber的後臺系統由谷歌地圖支持。當你加載Uber應用，並標示搭車地點時，用的就是谷歌地圖。當你的司機按照GPS指示前往目的地時，用的也是谷歌地圖。Uber最近將重心轉向遞送包裹而不是乘客，體現出他們有興趣成爲一家全方位的物流公司——類似於UPS那種，而不是一家出租車公司。對Uber而言，擁有自己的地圖部門，可以讓公司在不斷演變發展的同時，減少對谷歌的依賴。

There’s another factor at play here, too. Uber executives haven’t been shy about their fondness for driverless cars; the company is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University to work on the technology. After all, robots don’t strike for higher wages, nor do they assault passengers.

還有另一個因素是：Uber的高管從不避諱他們對自動駕駛汽車的熱愛。公司正與卡耐基梅隆大學合作研發這項技術。畢竟，機器是不會爲了索要更高薪水而罷工的，它們也不會毆打乘客。

Driverless cars need two things to work. The first is on-car sensors, which constantly monitor for changing road conditions that require an immediate response, like pedestrians and stop signs. The second is maps, which tell the car where to go on a bigger scale. For driverless cars to be feasible, the maps that power them have to be updated constantly. Imagine a driverless car doesn’t know that construction means a bridge is out, for instance: Dead end. Acquiring HERE, then, would help Uber more quickly realize a future where driverless cars get us all from A to B without us batting an eyelash.

無人駕駛汽車運行離不開兩樣東西。一樣是車載感應器，它能實時監控行人或停車信號等需要立即反應的路況。另外一樣則是地圖，它能縱覽全局，告訴汽車該走哪條路。要使無人駕駛汽車成爲現實，後端支持的地圖需要不斷地更新。設想一下，假如一輛無人駕駛汽車不知道前方有座橋已經不能走了，就會走進死路。收購HERE以後，Uber就能更快地實現自動駕駛汽車的未來，人們不必雙眼一眨不眨地盯着路況就能從A地來到B地了。