本文选自《经济学人》12月12日刊文章。曾经自动驾驶汽车项目是优步战略的重中之重，被认为是优步的未来，但现在由于不断亏损和巨大投入，优步不得不出售它的自动驾驶汽车部门。自动驾驶概念早已过了狂热期，在经历了长足的突飞猛进后，现在自动驾驶汽车深陷一些“角落案例”止步不前，近几年也屡屡出现自动驾驶汽车撞人致死事件。备受期待的自动驾驶汽车能熬过这个寒冬吗？
选文精讲
Self-driving cars were meant to be its future
IN 2016 TRAVIS KALANICK, then Uber’s chief executive, described self-driving cars as mission-critical. If somebody managed to beat Uber to making them work, he said, then the rival’s ability to offer taxi trips without paying for human drivers would mean that “Uber is no longer a thing.”
- mission-critical：（对于机构的成功运作）关键的，至关重要的
2016年，时任优步首席执行官的特拉维斯·卡兰尼克把自动驾驶汽车称为是优步的关键。他说，如果有人领先优步一步让这些自动驾驶汽车上路，那么这个竞争对手可以提供出租车服务但不需要为人类司机付费的能力，将意味着“优步将一文不值”。Times change. On December 7th Uber announced the sale of its self-driving arm to a firm called Aurora. No price was given. But Uber said it would put another $400m into the unit; that Dara Khosrowshahi, its current boss, would join Aurora’s board; and that the deal would leave it with a 26% stake in Aurora.但时代变了。12月7日，优步宣布将其自动驾驶部门出售给一家名为Aurora的公司，出售价格没有披露，但优步表示，将向自动驾驶部门再投入4亿美元，现任老板达拉·科斯罗萨希将加入Aurora董事会，这笔交易将使优步拥有Aurora26%的股份。One reason for the spin-off is Uber’s belated effort to return to profit. It lost $8.5bn in 2019, as it fought for market share with rivals such as Lyft. Besides offloading the self-driving unit, the firm has sacked workers and sold its Jump electric-bicycle division to Lime, a scooter firm. On December 8th Uber said it would flog its Elevate flying-car project to a startup called Joby Aviation.
- offload: 卸下，这里是“出售、转移”的意思
- flog sth (to sb): 出售（某物给某人）
分拆的原因之一是优步迟迟未能恢复盈利。2019年，优步在与Lyft等竞争对手争夺市场份额的过程中，亏损85亿美元。除了出售自动驾驶业务，该公司还解雇了员工，并将其Jump电动自行车部门出售给了滑板车公司Lime。12月8日，优步宣布将把它的Elevate飞行车项目出售给一家名为Joby Aviation的初创公司。
