独家专访：奔驰自动驾驶概念车背后的两位主导者和他们的疯狂创想

    这些理念是否很难说服公司内部的人？

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：曾经有一个重要时刻，那是在2012年，戴姆勒集团的一些董事会成员召开了一次压力很大的会议，参会人包括迪亚特•柴奇（戴姆特总裁兼奔驰公司负责人）。当时的气氛不能算是非常好。

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：董事会希望搞一辆概念车用来研究，但另一个完全不同的团队也将一个概念提到了桌面上。那个概念不够有说服力，所以他们把它毙掉了。

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：然后我用一个非常简单的黑色幻灯片提出了“套索”的概念。

    BB: Were these ideas hard to sell within the company?

    AM: The crucial moment was 2012 during a stressful meeting of some Daimler board members, including Dieter Zetsche (the chairman, and head of Mercedes cars). The mood was not the best.

    HH: The board wanted a show car for research, but the concept developed by a completely different team was on the table. This other concept was not convincing, so they canceled it.

    AM: And then I walked in with a single very black slide with the idea of a lasso.

    霍尔格•赫特森拉伯：它是对未来的一种形象化展现。它展示了人类需要越来越高的建筑，比如迪拜的哈里发塔（它也是全球最高的人造建筑）。

    亚历山大•曼可夫斯基：这个理念的关键是社会的发展，以及向未来投掷一根“套索”。你必须捕捉未来的某个东西，然后把它“拉”向你。当时我提出了这样一个奇怪的概念，即研发一款非常具有未来主义色彩的无人驾驶汽车，用来适应建筑物又高又数字化的城市环境。我问道：“对于未来来说，什么才是自由和奢华？”

    然后，赫特森拉伯用他的笔记本电脑向我展示了这张图片。

    HH: It was a visualization of the future. It showed humankind’s desire for huge buildings that became higher and higher, like the Burj Khalifa [the tallest man-made structure in the world, located in Dubai].

    AM: It was really about the development of society and a lasso into the future. You have to catch something from the future and pull it towards you. I presented the strange idea of making a total futuristic car where no driving is required, and where the buildings were tall and digital. I asked, “What’s the freedom and luxury for the future?”

    Hutzenlaub then showed me this image from his laptop.