Chinese retail giant Alibaba has unveiled a new automated vehicle which it says is easy to mass-produce and could serve a number of functions.

　　中国零售巨头阿里巴巴已经推出了一款新型自动送货机器人，据称这款机器人容易量产，并且可以发挥多种功能。

　　These could include delivery courier or automated coffee vendor, it said.

　　据称，这些功能中包含送货和自动咖啡供应方面。

　　The Cainiao G Plus can travel at up to nine miles per hour, reports The Verge news site.

　　美国 Verge新闻网站报道，这款无人驾驶送货机器人名为“G Plus”，时速可达每小时9英里。

　　It was unveiled at a conference where Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced a 100bn yuan ($15.5bn) investment in smart logistics.

　　在全球智慧物流峰会上马云宣布，将投入1000亿元人民币(约合 155亿美元)参与国家智能物流骨干网建设，并公布了几项科技创新。

　　This includes devices such as warehouse robots as well as delivery aids.

　　这包括智能仓库设备以及智能快递设备。

　　AI expert and author Calum Chace described the G Plus as resembling the "ugly big brother" of a delivery bot developed by UK firm Starship Technologies.

　　人工智能专家和作家Calum Chace将G Plus比喻为英国Starship 科技公司开发的送货机器人“丑陋的大哥”。

　　Starship has been working on this project for several years, so the Alibaba project looks to be behind as well as ugly, he said.

　　“Starship公司近年来一直致力于智能物流领域，所以阿里巴巴的产品看起来落后并且丑陋，”他说。

　　But that won’t matter. Anything to do with artificial intelligence is a high priority for China, which has set itself the target of overtaking the US as world leader in AI by 2030.

　　“但这并不重要，与人工智能有关的任何事情都是中国的优先事项，中国希望到2030年超越美国，成为人工智能领域世界最领先的国家。”

　　China benefits from having free access to large amounts of data, essential for training algorithms, he added - potentially a drawback in Europe since the introduction of GDPR legislation, designed to protect privacy.

　　“由于隐私政策差异，中国可以免费获取大量用户数据，这对编制算法至关重要”，他补充，“自从引入旨在保护隐私的GDPR立法以来，欧洲在此存在欠缺点。

　　Don’t bet against the Chinese pulling ahead in any AI-related competition, be it self-driving cars, facial recognition, or delivery bots, Mr Chace said.

　　Chace先生说：“毫无疑问，中国在任何与人工智能相关领域中都处于领先地位，无论是自动驾驶汽车、面部识别还是送货机器人。”

　　The G Plus vehicle is fitted with solid state Lidar - the laser sensors which form an important part of the system autonomous vehicles use to be aware of their surroundings.

　　G Plus车辆配备固态激光雷达，这些激光传感器构成了自动驾驶车辆用于识别周围环境的重要部分。

　　Solid state Lidar is more compact, cheaper and easier to manufacture than the traditional system, which involves spinning multiple lasers in circles to help build up a 360-degree image of what surrounds the vehicle.

　　与传统系统相比，固态激光雷达更紧凑、更便宜且更容易制造，通过旋转多线激光器帮助车辆建立周围环境的360度图像。

　　There are various developers creating their own versions but essentially it uses fewer lasers and a tiny swinging mirror.

　　目前，有各种开发商创建的图像识别系统，但阿里巴巴使用了更少的激光器和一个小摇摆镜。

　　Last month BMW revealed that its autonomous vehicles will be fitted with solid state Lidar when they launch in 2021.

　　上个月宝马公司透露，其配备固态激光雷达的自动驾驶车辆将于2021年发布。