The future now at CES

Audi is again front and centre at the world’s leading Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, with everything from the Audi AI:ME and Q4 e-tron concept vehicles, to its latest production, the Audi e-tron Sportback.

Held from January 7 to 10, technology, both current and developing is the lifeblood of this massive show, which is always a good indicator of emerging trends in everything from entertainment to automotive – a veritable window on tomorrow, with much of that technology available today.

With the Audi AI:ME, the vehicle will be familiar to many Audi aficionados, having been unveiled at Shanghai last year and most recently at Frankfurt last year, but the CES display goes deeper into the technologies and capabilities of this and potentially other Audi vehicles in the future. With the AI:ME, passenger vehicle interaction goes to a new level, where passengers can use eye tracking to communicate with the show car intuitively and have it order their favourite food, for example. They can also enjoy a wellness experience in the AI:ME, with a pair of VR goggles allowing occupants to say, enjoy a virtual flight across a spectacular mountain landscape – the technology adapting the virtual content to the movements of the vehicle in real time. 

Passengers can completely escape reality and relax, returning to the ‘here and now’ only when the Audi AI:ME reaches its destination, to find that the ordered food has been delivered on time, co-ordinated by the AI:ME on the basis of the users’ personal preferences and the car’s navigation data.

But the Audi technology on show in Las Vegas doesn’t end there. The whole concept of a car that thinks for itself and is even empathetic is explored through the ‘Audi Intelligence Experience’, where the car knows its user and their habits and uses intelligent functions combined with artificial intelligence to increase the passengers’ safety, wellbeing, and comfort. 

Self-learning navigation system is already integrated in the current generation of the MMI systems, and in the future, the car will also conduct a precise analysis of the functions and settings that its user prefers, ranging from the seat position, media, route guidance, and temperature to the fragrance of the interior. 

Other technology, such as refined navigation that points exactly to the desired destination, will become reality in series production models from this year. Combined with the 3D mixed reality head-up display Audi has developed with Samsung, the system generates two views – one for each eye – with tremendous advantages to the driver’s ability to focus and take in myriad information while watching the road ahead. 

The transparent display on demand is a further highlight. This uses a transparent OLED display and a black layer for a particularly deep shade of black, so that the sections of the display not required for showing information remain transparent. The result is that of a glass pane where information is not displayed, for an unobstructed view of the road.

These are just some of the technologies being showcased in the Nevada desert, but as has long been the case with Audi, it is just a matter of time before this groundbreaking technology finds its way into series production and becomes a familiar part of the mobility process.