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The world is getting used to driverless cars, but what about driverless combine harvesters? They are perfectly possible, says Lothar Kriszun.
这个世界正习惯于无人驾驶汽车，那么无人驾驶联合收割机呢？它们是完全可能的，洛塔尔.克里斯尊(Lothar Kriszun)说。
As the chief executive of German agricultural equipment company Claas, Mr Kriszun is an expert on the huge machines, of which his company is one of the world’s biggest producers.
身为德国农业机械公司Claas的首席执行官，克里斯尊是大型机械专家，他所在的公司是世界上最大的大型农机制造商之一。
He is standing in a sprawling factory in Harsewinkel, northern Germany,
他站在德国北部哈塞温克尔(Harsewinkel)的一个庞大厂区。
where most days 40 harvesters and related farm machines trundle off the production lines.
在大多数时间里，这里的生产线每天下线40台收割机和相关的农用机械。
Each can sell for up to EURO650,000 and are built from 50,000 parts — including about 30 sensors that measure everything from temperature to harvesting rates.
每一台的售价高达65万欧元，由5万个部件组成——包括大约30个测量从温度到收割率等各种指标的传感器。
These sensors, data communications and digital controls are crucial to self-driving harvesters becoming a reality.
自动驾驶收割机要成为现实，这些传感器、数据通信和数字控制至关重要。
Claas is among a raft of medium-sized, privately owned German manufacturers, known as the Mittelstand, grafting new technology on to manufacturing.
Claas是将新技术嫁接到制造业务的一批德国中等规模私有企业（即所谓Mittelstand）之一。
Central to this is the internet of things — connecting smart products and machines via data networks — and the related concept of Industrie 4.0 — the digitisation of manufacturing technology, from design to after service.
处于中心地位的是物联网（通过数据网络将智能产品和机器连接起来）和相关的工业4.0概念（对从设计到售后服务的制造业技术进行数字化）。
The Mittelstand — typically family-owned companies that often excel in manufacturing — are global market leaders.
Mittelstand（德国中小型企业，通常是家族企业，往往精于制造业）是全球市场的领军者。
They account for about 40 per cent of German gross domestic product across manufacturing and services, and are characterised by a long-term outlook and resilience — helped by their traditional aversion to taking on debt or straying from core areas of expertise.
它们约占德国制造业和服务业国内生产总值(GDP)的40%，它们的特点是放眼长远和具备韧性——这得益于这些企业传统上会避免负债或者偏离核心专业领域。
They are cited as one reason why the country emerged relatively unscathed from the 2008 financial crisis.
它们被援引为德国在2008年金融危机中相对未受损害的原因之一。
