Uber’s costly¹ battle for the Chinese ride-sharing market helped drive losses of $1.3bn during the first half of 2016, making the San Francisco-based company one of the most deeply lossmaking in Silicon² Valley.

优步(Uber)为争夺中国叫车市场而进行的烧钱大战致使其在2016年上半年亏损13亿美元，同时也使这家总部位于旧金山的公司成为硅谷亏损最严重的公司之一。

The company, which offers transportation³ through its smartphone app in more than 60 countries, had been spending heavily in markets such as China and India, where it was locked in competition with local rivals.

通过智能手机应用在60多个国家提供叫车服务的优步，在中国、印度等市场支出了大量资金，并且陷入了与本土对手的激烈竞争。

However, the losses may decline later this year after Uber sold its China unit to local rival Didi Chuxing earlier this month, in effect ending its costly subsidy⁴ war there.

然而，优步的亏损今年下半年有可能减少，因为该公司本月早些时候已将其中国业务出售给了本土竞争对手滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)——事实上结束了在中国代价高昂的补贴大战。

Uber is one of Silicon Valley’s best-funded companies, raising more than $15bn in equity⁵ and debt from investors⁶, and recently achieving a $68bn valuation.

优步是硅谷资金最充裕的公司之一，通过股本和举债从投资者那里筹集了150多亿美元，公司最近估值达680亿美元。

The losses, which were first reported by Bloomberg, came to $520m during the first quarter and more than $750m during the second quarter, on a measure before interest, tax, depreciation⁷ and amortisation.

据彭博(Bloomberg)最先报道的消息，按息税折旧及摊销前利润(EBITDA)计算，优步在今年第一季度亏损5.2亿美元，第二季度亏损超过7.5亿美元。

Travis Kalanick, chief executive, has previously⁸ told the Financial Times that Uber was profitable during the first quarter in the US, Australia and the region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

优步首席执行官特拉维斯•卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)此前曾对英国《金融时报》表示，今年首季优步在美国、澳大利亚以及欧洲、中东和非洲地区实现了盈利。

The company spent heavily in China and India during that time, as well as expanding to new markets.

同一时期，优步在中国和印度投入巨大，并且在拓展进入新的市场。

However, the US turned unprofitable during the second quarter of this year, with losses of $100m according to Bloomberg, as Uber boosted subsidies⁹ to compete with its rival Lyft.

然而，彭博的数据显示，由于为与对手Lyft竞争而提高了补贴，今年第二季度优步在美国未实现盈利，亏损了1亿美元。

Uber was responding to Lyft’s rising market share, which had reached 40 per cent in key markets such as San Francisco.

优步提高补贴是为了应对Lyft不断上升的市场份额——后者在旧金山等重要市场达到40%。

Uber aims to maintain a market share of about 80 per cent in each US city where it operates, according to a person close to the company.

一位接近优步的人士表示，该公司的目标是在其运营的每个美国城市都保持约80%的市场份额。

With the battle for China now out of the way, Uber has been increasing its focus on new projects that will require heavy investment, including mapping, driverless cars and car fleets that can be leased to drivers.

随着对中国市场的争夺告一段落，优步正在加大对需要大量投资的新项目的关注，包括绘制地图、无人驾驶汽车以及可以租赁给司机的车队。

The company will be piloting its first driverless car taxi service in Pittsburgh in a few weeks’ time, and has inked a deal with Volvo to jointly¹⁰ develop autonomous¹¹ vehicles.

几周后，优步将在匹兹堡试点其首次推出的无人驾驶出租车服务，该公司还已经与沃尔沃(Volvo)签约共同研发自主汽车。

Underscoring this shift in focus, Uber also made its largest ever acquisition in July, when it bought Otto, a driverless truck start-up founded by several key members of Alphabet’s driverless programme.

突显这种企业战略转变的是，优步今年7月还进行了其有史以来最大规模的收购——将无人驾驶卡车初创公司Otto收入囊中，该公司由Alphabet无人驾驶项目的几名主要成员创立。

Otto’s backers received a stake in Uber worth about $680m as well as a guarantee of 20 per cent of future profits from any trucking business.

Otto的资助者获得了价值约6.8亿美元的优步股份，以及一项从未来任何货运业务中获得20%利润的担保。

As part of that acquisition Uber will open driverless research centres in Palo Alto and in San Francisco, in addition to its research centre in Pittsburgh.

作为此次收购的一部分，除了在匹兹堡的研发中心，优步还将在帕洛阿尔托和旧金山设立无人驾驶研发中心。

The company is also preparing to spend half a billion dollars on its mapping efforts as it seeks to build more accurate maps and reduce its dependence¹² on Google Maps.

优步还准备在绘制地图方面投入5亿美元，该公司试图绘制更精准的地图，减少对谷歌地图(Google Maps)的依赖。

It already has mapping cars on the road in the US and Mexico.

优步绘制地图的汽车已经在美国和墨西哥上路。

Uber’s investors include Goldman Sachs, Benchmark, and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

优步的投资者包括高盛(Goldman Sachs)、风险投资公司Benchmark以及沙特阿拉伯的主权财富基金。