Autonomous Systems: The Computer in the Cockpit

自主系统：驾驶舱里的电脑

Why partial automation can be more dangerous than none at all

为何半自动可能比手动更危险

One way to tell who made the aircraft you are boarding is to steal a glimpse of the cockpit. A traditional control yoke in front of the pilots suggests a Boeing; a joystick beside each seat, an Airbus. Pilots argue about which system is better; neither is considered safer than the other. Each exemplifies a different approach to a problem that manufacturers of not just aircraft but also cars, trains and ships must grapple with as long as human operators handle increasingly automated machines.

要想知道自己乘坐的飞机是哪家公司出品，一个办法是偷瞄一眼驾驶舱。操纵杆按传统方式放在驾驶员座位前方的是波音，放在驾驶员侧方的是空客。至于哪个系统更好，驾驶员们看法不一，他们也不认为哪个就更安全些。随着驾驶员需要操作越来越自动化的机器，无论是飞机，还是汽车、火车和轮船的制造商都必须处理同一个难题。波音和空客展现了不同的解决方案。

The challenge of what engineers call the “human-machine interface” has tragically gained attention after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 on March 10th. Eyewitnesses reported that shortly after departing Addis Ababa, the aircraft climbed and dived repeatedly. Similarities were drawn with a fatal crash in Indonesia in October last year. That time, the pilots of a Lion Air MAX 8 struggled, also soon after take-off, with an automated safety system that erroneously tried to prevent the aircraft from stalling by lowering its nose.

本月10日埃塞俄比亚航空公司的一架波音737 MAX 8坠毁后，工程师们所说的“人机界面”难题以悲剧性的方式受到了关注。目击者报告称，飞机离开亚的斯亚贝巴后不久反复爬升又俯冲，与印尼去年10月发生的致命事故相似。当时，也是在起飞后不久，狮航一架波音737 MAX 8客机的驾驶员无法控制自动安全系统，该系统错误地试图压低机头来防止飞机失速。

Although authorities around the world have grounded the model, Boeing insists that it is airworthy. The company is updating the MAX’s automated flight-control software to make it easier for pilots to assume manual control. Boeing and Airbus both pack their planes with computers that do most of the flying. Each, though, espouses a different philosophy on how a pilot reacts to them, says Mudassir Lone of Cranfield University in Britain. Boeings are designed to make the pilot feel like the aviator in charge. Although the control yoke looks and feels like something from the analogue era, the way it behaves – including shaking when approaching a stall – is created digitally by a computer. Airbus’s joystick is seldom used besides take-off and landing. A sound alerts the pilot to trouble; in an Airbus, he is more supervisor than airman.

虽然各国政府已禁飞MAX 8客机，但波音公司仍坚称该型号客机是适航的。波音正在升级MAX的自动飞行控制软件，方便驾驶员手动接管飞行。波音和空客的飞机都安装了自动驾驶系统，控制着大部分的飞行操作。但英国克兰菲尔德大学的穆达希尔·隆内认为，两者在处理驾驶员如何对自动驾驶系统做出反应上有着不同的理念。波音的设计令驾驶者感觉自己是操控飞机的飞行员。虽然操纵杆的外观和感觉都像是模拟信号时代的产物，但其动作方式（包括在接近失速时的抖动）是由计算机以数字方式生成的。而在空客的飞机上，除了在起飞和降落时，驾驶员很少需要用到操纵杆。出现问题时，系统会发出警报声通知驾驶员。在空客飞机上，驾驶员更像指挥官，而不是飞行员。

The big worry is what happens if a sensor feeds the flight-control system the wrong data. This might have happened in the Lion Air crash, according to a preliminary report. Something similar downed an Air France Airbus A330 over the Atlantic in 2009: an airspeed sensor iced over and the ensuing loss of data caused the autopilot to disengage. Unable to work out what was happening, the pilots lost control.

人们最担心的是，万一传感器向飞控系统提供了错误数据会有什么后果。一份初步调查报告显示，狮航坠机事件中可能就出现了这种情况。2009年法航的一架空客A330客机也因类似问题坠落大西洋：空速传感器结冰，系统无法读取数据，导致自动驾驶仪解除控制。驾驶员搞不清楚发生了什么情况，没能控制住飞机。

Switching from automatic to manual is not straightforward. Flight-control systems may not disengage entirely. Instead, they might continue to assist the pilot in an attempt to prevent a dangerous manoeuvre. When things do go wrong, it is critical that pilots follow the correct procedures, which are different for each model of aircraft. Pilots learn these and carry checklists spelling them out. Proliferation of systems necessitates frequent retraining. To make life easier for pilots, the MAX 8 employs a system that makes it feel to them like older, more familiar versions of the 737. But this adds another layer of complexity.

从自动驾驶切换到手动操作不是一件简单的事情。飞控系统可能没有完全解除控制。相反，它可能会继续协助驾驶员以防出现危险操作。一旦真出现了问题，驾驶员按正确步骤处理是至关重要的。但每种机型的应对步骤各不相同，驾驶员必须一一学习并带上列明步骤的操作清单。新系统层出不穷，使得驾驶员需要频繁再培训。为方便驾驶员操作，MAX 8采用的系统在操作感受上沿袭了驾驶员们更熟悉的波音737旧机型。但这又增添了一层复杂性。

Incidents are not confined to aviation. In Washington, DC, automated trains have largely been out of service since 2009, when a faulty circuit made a stationary train invisible to the safety system on the one behind it. The driver was unable to brake in time; the resulting crash killed nine people. Ships may soon face similar problems. Some ferries and offshore support vessels have already replaced ship’s wheels with computer-assisted joysticks. A series of accidents involving self-driving cars may have been caused by sensors’ failure to recognize objects in the road, and drivers failing to respond fast enough.

事故不仅限于航空领域。2009年，美国华盛顿特区的一辆地铁列车因电路故障造成安全系统失灵，撞上了前方停着的列车。自那以后，该地区的自动驾驶列车已基本停运。当时列车司机无法及时刹车，事故造成九人死亡。船舶也许很快会遇到类似问题。一些渡轮和近海辅助船已经用计算机辅助操纵杆取代舵轮。一系列涉及自动驾驶汽车的事故可能是由于传感器未能识别道路中的物体造成的，而驾驶员来不及反应。

Studies have shown that when people have to wrest control from an automated system, it can take them around five seconds to grasp what is happening. The monotony of monitoring a semi-automated vehicle may reduce vigilance by provoking what psychologists refer to as “passive” fatigue. Such concerns have led some car makers, Ford among them, to consider skipping semi-automation and go straight to something closer to full autonomy, cutting people out of the loop. That would remove the human-machine interface – but not humans’ machine-induced fears.

研究表明，当人们必须要从自动化系统手上夺回控制权时，可能需要约五秒的反应时间来弄清楚状况。监控半自动驾驶交通工具的那种单调乏味可能会造成心理学家所说的“被动”疲劳，导致驾驶者的警觉性下降。出于这方面的担忧，福特等部分汽车制造商考虑跳过半自动化，直接采用更接近全自动的方式，将人类完全排除在外。人机界面的问题可能会就此消除，但人们因机器引发的恐惧依然存在。

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