Some people are obsessed by French wines. Others love playing golf or devouring literature. One of my greatest pleasures in life is, I have to admit, a bit special. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy watching cities from the sky, from an airplane window.
有啲人鍾意飲法國紅酒 而有啲人鍾意打哥爾夫球 或者埋頭睇書 我平時最大嘅樂趣之一 我必須承認有少少特別 我冇辦法描述我有幾鍾意 從飛機窗睇城巿
Some cities are calmly industrious, like Dusseldorf or Louisville. Others project an energy that they can hardly contain, like New York or Hong Kong. And then you have Paris or Istanbul, and their patina full of history.
有啲城市默默咁努力 比如話杜塞爾多夫 又或者路易斯維爾 有啲城市 投射出佢哋幾乎冇辦法承受嘅活力 比如話紐約 或者香港 然後仲有巴黎 或者伊斯坦布爾 同埋佢哋充滿歷史印記嘅一面
I see cities as living beings. And when I discover them from far above, I like to find those main streets and highways that structure their space. Especially at night, when commuters make these arteries look dramatically red and golden: the city's vascular system performing its vital function right before your eyes. But when I'm sitting in my car after an hour and a half of commute every day, that reality looks very different.
我將城市睇成生物 當我從高空探索佢哋 我鍾意搵建構空間嘅大馬路同高速公路 尤其喺晚黑 當果啲上落班嘅人 令呢啲大馬路望起身非常璀璨 城市嘅血管系統執行緊重要嘅任務 就喺你眼前 但係當我坐喺我部車入面 日日駕駛一個半鐘頭上落班之後 現實就好唔一樣啦
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Nothing -- not public radio, no podcast --
乜都無辦法 公共電台唔得 播客唔得
(Laughter) Not even mindfulness meditation makes this time worth living.
(笑聲) 甚至連冥想都冇辦法 令呢一段時間變得有意義
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Isn't it absurd that we created cars that can reach 130 miles per hour and we now drive them at the same speed as 19th-century horse carriages?
唔覺得好可笑咩? 我哋製造出時速可以達到 130 英里嘅車 然後以 19 世紀馬車嘅速度嚟開?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
In the US alone, we spent 29.6 billion hours commuting in 2014. With that amount of time, ancient Egyptians could have built 26 Pyramids of Giza.
凈係喺美國 2014 年,我哋就用咗296億個鐘上落班 同樣嘅時間 古埃及人可以起 26 個吉薩金字塔
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
We do that in one year. A monumental waste of time, energy and human potential.
我哋喺一年時間就用咗咁多個鐘 浪費大量嘅時間、能量同埋人類潜力
For decades, our remedy for congestion was simple: build new roads or enlarge existing ones. And it worked. It worked admirably for Paris, when the city tore down hundreds of historical buildings to create 85 miles of transportation-friendly boulevards. And it still works today in fast-growing emerging cities. But in more established urban centers, significant network expansions are almost impossible: habitat is just too dense, real estate, too expensive and public finances, too fragile. Our city's vascular system is getting clogged, it's getting sick, and we should pay attention.
幾十年嚟 我哋應對塞車嘅措施都好簡單: 起一條新路或者擴闊現有嘅路 呢個措施好有效 喺巴黎相當之有效 巴黎拆咗幾百座歷史建築 嚟起 85 英里 方便運輸嘅林蔭大道 呢個做法對宜家高速發展嘅新興城市 依然好有效 但係喺更多發展完善嘅市中心裡面 大量嘅網絡擴張幾乎係唔可能嘅 住房建築太密集 房地產太貴 同埋公共財政太脆弱 我哋城市嘅血管系統塞住咗、病咗 而我哋應該多多關注
Our current way of thinking is not working. For our transportation to flow, we need a new source of inspiration.
我哋目前嘅思考方式係唔掂嘅 為咗令我哋嘅交通順暢 我哋需要新嘅靈感源頭
So after 16 years working in transportation, my "aha moment" happened when speaking with a biotech customer. She was telling me how her treatment was leveraging specific properties of our vascular system. "Wow," I thought, "Our vascular system -- all the veins and arteries in our body making miracles of logistics every day." This is the moment I realized that biology has been in the transportation business for billions of years. It has been testing countless solutions to move nutrients, gases and proteins. It really is the world's most sophisticated transportation laboratory.
喺運輸業做咗16年之後 當我同一個做生物科技嘅客人 傾偈嘅時候 靈感出現咗 佢同我講佢嘅療程 點利用血管系統裡面嘅某啲特性 我心諗︰哇,我哋嘅血管系統 即係體內所有嘅血管同動脈 每一日都創造緊物流嘅奇跡 就係呢一刻,我意識到 生物學已經存在喺運輸業入面幾十億年 血管系統試過無數解決方法 嚟運送營養、氣體同埋蛋白質 真係世界上最精密嘅運輸實驗室
So, what if the solution to our traffic challenges was inside us? I wanted to know: Why is it that blood flows in our veins most of our lives, when our big cities get clogged on a daily basis? And the reality is that you're looking at two very different networks. I don't know if you realize, but each of us has 60,000 miles of blood vessels in our bodies -- 60,000 miles. That's two-and-a-half times the Earth's circumference, inside you. What it means is that blood vessels are everywhere inside us, not just under the surface of our skin.
如果解決交通需求嘅方法 就喺我哋體內呢? 我想知 點解血液好平常咁喺血管流動 但係我哋嘅城市就日日塞車? 事實上你係睇緊兩個非常唔同嘅網絡 唔知你有冇意識到 我哋每個人體內都有六萬英里長嘅血管 有六萬英里 喺你嘅體內 係地球圓周嘅 2.5 倍 亦即係話我哋體內周圍都係血管 唔只係喺我哋皮膚表層嘅下面
But if you look at our cities, yes, we have some underground subway systems and some tunnels and bridges, and also some helicopters in the sky. But the vast majority of our traffic is focused on the ground, on the surface. So in other words, while our vascular system uses the three dimensions inside us, our urban transportation is mostly two-dimensional. And so what we need is to embrace that verticality. If our surface grid is saturated, well, let's elevate our traffic.
但係當你望向我哋嘅城市 冇錯,我哋係有地鐵系統 有隧道同橋樑 仲有天上嘅直升機 但係大部分嘅交通都集中喺地面 喺表層 即係話 我哋體內嘅血管系統係立體 而市區運輸系統基本上係平面 所以我哋應該將天空納入運輸系統 如果我哋嘅平面飽和咗 咁就將交通升高
This Chinese concept of a bus that can straddle traffic jams -- that was an eye-opener on new ways to think about space and movement inside our cities. And we can go higher, and suspend our transportation like we did with our electrical grid. Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi are talking about testing these futuristic networks of suspended magnetic pods. And we can keep climbing, and fly. The fact that a company like Airbus is now seriously working on flying urban taxis is telling us something. Flying cars are finally moving from science-fiction déjà vu to attractive business-case territory. And that's an exciting moment.
呢個概念嚟自中國 巴士可以跨立係堵塞嘅車輛上面 呢個概念令我哋大開眼界 對於城巿入面嘅空間同移動 有新嘅思考方式 我哋可以行高啲 將運輸系統懸掛 就好似我哋嘅供電網咁 特拉維夫同阿布扎比宜家討論緊 測試呢種磁懸浮車艙嘅未來網絡 我哋可以繼續攀爬,飛天 事實上好似空中巴士呢種公司 宜家認真咁研究市區空中的士 講明咗一啲事 飛天汽車終於從科幻 轉移到吸引嘅商業範疇 呢一刻好令人興奮
So building this 3-D transportation network is one of the ways we can mitigate and solve traffic jams. But it's not the only one. We have to question other fundamental choices that we made, like the vehicles we use. Just imagine a very familiar scene: You've been driving for 42 minutes. The two kids behind you are getting restless. And you're late. Do you see that slow car in front of you? Always comes when you're late, right?
所以起呢個 3D 運輸網絡 係緩和並且解決塞車嘅方法之一 但唔係唯一嘅方法 我哋必須質疑 我哋其他嘅根本性選擇 比如話交通工具 想象一下一個好熟悉嘅場景: 你已經開咗 42 分鐘車 你後面嘅兩個細路仔開始煩躁 而你已經遲到 見唔見到前面果部開得好慢嘅車? 呢種事成日發生係你遲到嘅時候
(Laughter)
啱唔啱?
(笑聲)
That driver is looking for parking. There is no parking spot available in the area, but how would he know? It is estimated that up to 30 percent of urban traffic is generated by drivers looking for parking. Do you see the 100 cars around you? Eighty-five of them only have one passenger. Those 85 drivers could all fit in one Londonian red bus. So the question is: Why are we wasting so much space if it is what we need the most? Why are we doing this to ourselves?
果個司機搵緊停車位 果度附近冇空位 但係佢點知呢? 估計大約 30% 嘅市區塞車問題 係因為司機搵緊停車位 見唔見到你身邊嘅 100 部車? 其中 85 部車入面只有一個乘客 呢 85 位司機可以坐滿一部倫敦紅巴士 然後問題係 如果空間係我哋急需嘅嘢 點解仲要浪費? 點解我哋要咁對待自己?
Biology would never do this. Space inside our arteries is fully utilized. At every heartbeat, a higher blood pressure literally compacts millions of red blood cells into massive trains of oxygen that quickly flow throughout our body. And the tiny space inside our red blood cells is not wasted, either. In healthy conditions, more than 95 percent of their oxygen capacity is utilized. Can you imagine if the vehicles we used in our cities were 95 percent full, all the additional space you would have to walk, to bike and to enjoy our cities?
生物學永遠唔會咁做 我哋充分利用咗血管裡面嘅空間 每一下心跳 高血壓就壓迫幾百萬個紅血球 進入龐大嘅氧氣火車裡面 好快咁係我哋人體內流通 而紅血球裡面嘅小空間亦冇浪費 喺健康嘅情况下 最少會用到 95% 嘅氧氣容量 你能唔能夠想象 如果城市裡面用嘅交通工具 使用率有 95% 將會有幾多額外空間攞嚟行路 踩單車、同埋享受城市嘅魅力?
The reason blood is so incredibly efficient is that our red blood cells are not dedicated to specific organs or tissues; otherwise, we would probably have traffic jams in our veins. No, they're shared. They're shared by all the cells of our body. And because our network is so extensive, each one of our 37 trillion cells gets its own deliveries of oxygen precisely when it needs them.
血液之所以咁高效率 係因為我哋嘅紅血球並唔係只用喺 特定嘅器官同組織 如果唔係,我哋嘅血管可能會塞車 紅血球係共享嘅 係我哋體內所有細胞共享嘅 因為我哋嘅網絡咁龐大 37 兆個細胞,每一個都運送氧氣 啱啱好係需要嘅時候
Blood is both a collective and individual form of transportation. But for our cities, we've been stuck. We've been stuck in an endless debate between creating a car-centric society or extensive mass-transit systems. I think we should transcend this. I think we can create vehicles that combine the convenience of cars and the efficiencies of trains and buses. Just imagine. You're comfortably sitting in a fast and smooth urban train, along with 1,200 passengers. The problem with urban trains is that sometimes you have to stop five, ten, fifteen times before your final destination.
血液係一種既集體又獨立嘅傳輸方式 但係對我哋嘅城市嚟講 我哋塞住咗 我哋塞喺無止境嘅辯論裡面 辯論建立以車為中心嘅社會 定建立係龐大嘅公共交通系統 我覺得我哋應該更進一步 我覺得我哋可以發明一啲交通工具 結合車嘅方便 同埋火車同巴士嘅高效率 想象一下 你同 1,200 名乘客一齊 好舒服咁坐喺一部 又快又流暢嘅巿區火車裡面 城市火車嘅問題係 喺到達最終目的地之前 有時要停靠 5 次、10 次、15 次
What if in this train you didn't have to stop? In this train, wagons can detach dynamically while you're moving and become express, driverless buses that move on a secondary road network. And so without a single stop, nor a lengthy transfer, you are now sitting in a bus that is headed toward your suburb. And when you get close, the section you're sitting in detaches and self-drives you right to your doorstep. It is collective and individual at the same time. This could be one of the shared, modular, driverless vehicles of tomorrow.
如果呢部火車係不需要停靠呢? 當你喺路上嘅時候 呢部火車嘅車廂可以動態分離 變成快車、無人駕駛嘅巴士 喺細啲嘅馬路上行駛 所以完全唔使停靠 亦唔會有漫長嘅轉車 你宜家坐喺一部開往郊區嘅巴士上 就嚟到嘅時候 你坐嘅果部分會脫離 自動將你送到目的地 既集體又獨立 呢個係共享、組合式 無人駕駛嘅未來交通工具之一
Now ... as if walking in a city buzzing with drones, flying taxis, modular buses and suspended magnetic pods was not exotic enough, I think there is another force in action that will make urban traffic mesmerizing. If you think about it, the current generation of driverless cars is just trying to earn its way into a traffic grid made by and for humans. They're trying to learn traffic rules, which is relatively simple, and coping with human unpredictability, which is more challenging.
宜家…… 就好似喺城市行走,有無人機 空中的士、組合式巴士同埋磁懸浮車艙 都仲未夠神奇 我覺得仲有另外一種力量喺度努力緊 令巿區交通變得更有魅力 你諗下 宜家嘅無人駕駛車輛諗緊辦法 進入由人製造、為人服務嘅 交通網絡裡面 佢哋嘗試學習交通規則 呢個仲算簡單 更有挑戰性嘅係 佢哋仲要應對人類嘅不可預測性
But what would happen when whole cities become driverless? Would we need traffic lights? Would we need lanes? How about speed limits? Red blood cells are not flowing in lanes. They never stop at red lights. In the first driverless cities, you would have no red lights and no lanes. And when all the cars are driverless and connected, everything is predictable and reaction time, minimum. They can drive much faster and can take any rational initiative that can speed them up or the cars around them. So instead of rigid traffic rules, flow will be regulated by a mesh of dynamic and constantly self-improving algorithms. The result: a strange traffic that mixes the fast and smooth rigor of German autobahns and the creative vitality of the intersections of Mumbai.
但係當成個城市變成 無人駕駛嘅時候會點? 我哋仲需唔需要紅綠燈? 仲需唔需要車道? 速度限制呢? 紅血球唔係喺車道上面流通嘅 佢哋從來都唔會因為紅燈而停 係第一批無人駕駛嘅城市裡面 唔會有紅燈同埋車道 當所有車都係無人駕駛而且連埋一齊 一切都可以預測,反應時間都係最短 無人駕駛車可以開得更加快 可以採取任何合理嘅行為嚟加快速度 或者加快旁邊其他車嘅速度 車流會係可以透過使用動態 不斷自我改善嘅規則系統控制 代替死板嘅交通規則 結果就係,奇怪嘅交通系統 融合咗德國高速公路嘅快同穩 同埋孟買十字路口嘅創意活力
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Traffic will be functionally exuberant. It will be liquid like our blood. And by a strange paradox, the more robotized our traffic grid will be, the more organic and alive its movement will feel.
交通功能將會非常豐富 會好似血液咁流動 根據一個奇怪嘅悖論 交通網絡越係自動化 佢嘅流動就越統一而且充滿活力
So yes, biology has all the attributes of a transportation genius today. But this process has taken billions of years, and went through all sorts of iterations and mutations. We can't wait billions of years to evolve our transportation system. We now have the dreams, the concepts and the technology to create 3-D transportation networks, invent new vehicles and change the flow in our cities.
所以,冇錯 生物學有嗮所有 當代交通天才應該有嘅特性 但呢個過程已經喺幾十億年前開始 而且經歷咗好多次嘅反覆同變異 我哋唔可以等幾十億年 逐漸發展運輸系統 宜家我哋有夢想 有概念 有技術 嚟起一個 3D 運輸網絡 發明新嘅交通工具 同改變我哋城市嘅流動
Let's do it.
一起行動啦
Thank you.
多謝
(Applause)
(鼓掌)