Audi 2010 Annual Report Download - page 79

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The driver leans back
comfortably in his seat and
focuses his full attention on
the 3D display screens. His
car glides independently to its des-
tination at high speed, safely guided
by the on-board electronics. In this key
scene from the science fi ction thriller
“I, Robot,” action star Will Smith
shares his starring role with a futuristic
vehicle bearing Audi’s four-ring logo.
Hollywood’s visions of the future are
often quickly overtaken by reality. This
is demonstrated with particular clarity
at the International CES, the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
At the show, electronics manufac-
turers sketch out the possibilities and
demonstrate the trends of tomorrow.
Audi was represented this year for the
fi rst time in the gambling capital – and
Chairman Rupert Stadler was given
the honor of opening the show with a
keynote speech.
With thundering music and blinding
headlights, a car rolls onto the stage
as the mesmerized audience looks
on. Low-slung, red and dangerously
attractive. Rupert Stadler has brought
along the latest concept car from
Audi – the e-tron Spyder.
And James Cromwell, one of the stars
of “I, Robot.” With them, Stadler elicits
the right associations. Autonomous
vehicle control and the networked car –
both seem within reach.
But wait just a minute. First of all,
what is a major carmaker actually
doing at the biggest trade show for
entertainment electronics? Stadler
explains: “The car of the future will
be networked – with its surroundings,
with the traffi c infrastructure and
with the world of the Internet.” This is
precisely where Audi wants to develop
its strong position. Today, the motto
“Vorsprung durch Technik” also relates
to the digital world.
The premium carmaker sees cars
of the future as being integrated into
the mobile data network. Some Audi
models already use Google navigation
and are a WLAN hotspot on wheels.
“The car as a status symbol now
networks with mobile status symbols –
smartphones and navigation devices,”
Stadler says with confi dence. In the
future Audi models will be linked even
more intensively with the Internet,
with other cars and with the traffi c
infrastructure via fast data networks
like UMTS, and soon also via LTE.
Audi is placing the focus on
simple operation of the equipment.
Controlling the user interface – the
Multi Media Interface (MMI) – will
be as intuitive as possible. This will
be achieved, for instance, with voice-
based online searching for restaurants
and other points of interest.
The innovation cycles are getting
shorter and shorter – and this also
applies to the automotive industry.
Electronics are setting the pace.
Audi has more than 100 years of
experience in mechanical engineering;
now the carmaker is consolidating its
expertise in the area of software
development. Through its partners,
Audi is bringing outstanding technol-
ogies on board and is making them
usable for the automotive world.
The joint venture e.solutions GmbH
is developing customized software for
this purpose. For several years Audi has
relied on the California-based graphics
specialists at NVIDIA for its infotain-
ment modules. Audi will soon be one of
the world’s fi rst carmakers to employ
their Tegra 2 processor, enabling
elegant and highly dynamic graphics.
The car will also be a part of
tomorrow’s world of data. Will all this
someday make the driver obsolete?
The hero in the futuristic thriller
“I, Robot” gave a very clear response
to this question: When his futuristic
Audi was being held in the grasp of
a hostile machine, he took control of
the steering wheel himself. After all,
as Audi boss Rupert Stadler said in Las
Vegas: “At Audi, we love driving.”
WOLFGANG KOSER
Ein gutes Paar:
Der renommierte Architekt
Meinhard von Gerkan
und der A8 L.
Experience Audi at the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas at:
www.audi.com/ar2010/ces
PHOTOS | AUDI AG
Keynote speech
Rupert Stadler showed how the automobile,
electronics and lifestyles are growing together.
Vorsprung durch
Technik in digital form
Together with Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of
graphics processing unit inventor NVIDIA,
Rupert Stadler presents a new platform
(left). Hollywood star James Cromwell
(top) discusses the fi lming of “I, Robot.”
O