Audi TechTalk Design
Further Information
Marc Lichte: “Aesthetics arise from efficiency” Audi at Design Shanghai 2021 in cooperation with Stella McCartney Mobility for Megacities: Audi AI:ME Audi Aicon concept car – autonomous on course for the future A new dimension of e-mobility: the Audi Q4 e-tron sets a benchmark for interior and operation
Footage Audi Aicon
With the four-door design vision Audi Aicon, the brand with the four rings is presenting a autonomous Audi of the future – with no steering wheel or pedals. The Aicon is designed for purely electric operation and should be able to cover distances between 700 and 800 kilometers (435.0 - 497.1 mi) on a single charge.
Design vision Audi Aicon
Design study, technology demonstrator, mobility concept: The Audi Aicon exploits every possibility offered by a autonomous luxury sedan of the future with unprecedented consistency.
Highlights AUDI AG at the IAA 2017
At the 67th International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Audi will present the new A8. With the concept cars Audi Elaine and Audi Aicon the brand with the four rings offers a look at the mobility of the future – regarding connectivity, piloted driving, the user experience, drive technology and design.
e-tron: Heading for the future on electric power
An initial production automobile available with a combination of an internal combustion engine and an electric motor was the Audi duo with the body of an Audi A4 Avant in 1997. A technological milestone for electric cars was marked by the Audi R8 e-tron, unveiled at the IAA in 2009 and in 2012, on setting a record lap, it was the fastest electric automobile on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring. Since 2014, Audi has been offering its first plug-in hybrid, the 150 kW (204 hp) Audi A3 e-tron. 2016 saw the debut of the Audi Q7 e-tron – powered by a combination of a 3.0 TDI engine and an electric motor with combined output of 275 kW (373 hp) and torque of 700 Nm. In all-electric mode, it achieves a range of up to 56 kilometers producing zero local emissions. It is the world’s first plug-in hybrid with a V6 diesel engine and quattro drive. In addition, the A6 is produced and offered in a hybrid version on the Chinese market. The combination of a TDI engine and electrified drive was successful in motorsport as well. Audi was the first manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the R18 LMP1 sports car and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with hybrid drive. As the first German automobile manufacturer to do so, Audi is now racing in Formula E as well. With electrification in motorsport and production, Audi is consistently pursuing the path into the electric future. The four-door design vision Audi Aicon provides a glimpse of the decade after next. The brand with the four rings unveiled a fully automated Audi of the future at the 2017 IAA. In a visionary way, the technology showpiece combines innovations in the areas of the powertrain and chassis, digitalization and sustainability. The Aicon is designed for all-electric operation and is supposed to be able to cover distances between 700 and 800 kilometers on a single battery charge.
World premiere at Pebble Beach – the Audi PB18 e-tron concept car
High-performance sports car with electric drive Design and technical concept car As a monoposto on the racetrack
For the first time, Audi is presenting a design and technical concept car at Pebble Beach Automotive Week in Monterey, California. The all-electric Audi PB18 e-tron presents a radical vision for the high-performance sports car of tomorrow. Broad and flat, visibly inspired by the wind tunnel and the race track, its very presence signals that it is destined to push boundaries. Its concept and exciting lines were created in the new Audi design studio in Malibu, California – where the brand’s design is consistently being updated for the future. The technical concept of the PB18 e-tron has benefitted from Audi's many years of winning the Le Mans racing series. The experts at Audi Sport GmbH, the high-performance subsidiary of Audi, were responsible for implementation. The abbreviated name “PB18 e-tron” refers both to the Pebble Beach venue for the premiere and to the technological DNA it shares with the successful LMP1 racing car Audi R18 e-tron.
Consistently focused concepts for use At first sight, the Audi PB18 e-tron shows its kinship with another spectacular concept car from the brand – the Audi Aicon from 2017. This holds true not only for characteristic design elements like the side windows that angle inwards and the extremely extended wheel arches. The two concept cars from 2017 and 2018 also share their electric drive with solid-state battery as energy storage. But their respective, consistently focused concepts for use make them polar opposites. While the Aicon was designed as a fully automated, long-distance luxury vehicle – a business jet for the road – the creators of the PB18 e-tron designed it as a radical driving machine for the racetrack and road. Dynamics and emotion top its list of specifications. Parameters like propulsive power, lateral acceleration and perfect ergonomics determine each detail.
Audi Study: No Congestion in the City of the Future
These findings encourage us to continue our investment in the future: in self-driving cars such as the Audi Aicon, services like Audi on demand, or networked technology such as Audi traffic-light information,” says Melanie Goldmann, head of Trend Communication at Audi. The study also examines more extreme scenarios. For example, what happens if there is a sharp increase in the number of people who use public transportation, walk, or travel by bike? What is the effect of high levels of delivery traffic as a result of online shopping? And what happens if cities do not permit self-driving cars or are slow or reluctant to digitalize their infrastructure? The results range from shorter journey times in commuter traffic (-40%) to gridlock. “The effects of connected and automated vehicles and of other technical and societal developments are continuously studied in the transportation research community. In most cases, the studies focus on single aspects of these developments in order to better identify the isolated effect of exactly that aspect alone. Our objective was different: We wanted to draw a picture of what mobility will look like when all these effects come together,” says Professor Peter Vortisch, head of the Institute for Transport at the KIT. In the traffic model for Ingolstadt, the researchers investigated only one parameter in isolation, without taking account of changes in user behavior or increased demand: how many self-driving cars would be needed today to make the traffic flow noticeably better? At least 40 percent! Computers maintain the necessary distance to other vehicles, do not drive too fast, and obey all traffic signals. However, according to several academic studies, in a mixed traffic situation this has a disadvantage for traffic flow. Journey times are noticeably cut only with an increasing number of autonomous cars: if the roads in Ingolstadt today were used only by autonomous vehicles, travel times would fall by one quarter.