Audi’s Self-Driving Concept Gets Almost 500 Miles on a Single Charge

Audi is embracing a self-driving future.

The German automaker has been actively testing self-driving cars all around the world and at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, it is presenting the Audi Aicon. It’s a four-door, 2+2 concept that features no steering wheels or pedals, emphasizing that it previews an autonomous Audi of the future. According to the automaker, the Aicon should be able to cover between 435 to 497 miles (700 to 800 kilometers) on a single charge.

It’s arguably the best-looking “robot taxi” we’ve seen, with a sports-car-like appearance that even teases what a four-door Audi R8 would look like. It measures 17.9-feet long, 6.9-feet wide, and 4.9-feet tall. Underpinning the concept is an 11.4-foot wheelbase, which is 9.4 inches longer than the Audi A8.

As a self-driving car, the Audi Aicon features opposed doors that open to the front and rear, removing the need of a B-pillar. The exposed interior is spacious, while removing the steering wheel and pedals give a sense of openness and expanse.

The two front seats are designed for maximum comfort and optimal spaciousness, said Audi. Passengers can slide them up to 19.7 inches (500 millimeters) back and forth, between the forward and rear positions. Each individual seat can swivel by up to 15 degrees, which means the seats can be turned outward to make it easier to get in and out of the vehicle, or inward so passengers can talk and interact more easily.

Powering the Audi Aicon are four electric motors that combine to produce a total of about 349 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque. As you might have guessed, there’s one electric motor powering each wheel, allowing for electronically-controlled, variable quattro all-wheel drive. Audi emphasized that acceleration isn’t the focus with the powertrain, but rather maximum efficiency for increased range.

Along with previewing its self-driving technology and how Audi envisions its electric vehicles for the future, it’s also showing off new charging technology on the Aicon. There’s a high-voltage system with 800 volts, allowing the Aicon’s battery unit to be charged to 80 percent of its capacity in less than 30 minutes. In an AI Zone, it will be able to pull up to a charging station on its own, charging its battery without human assistance.

“The Audi Aicon is an all-arounder well prepared for its primary task: to offer a maximum of comfort, communications technology, and freedom for its occupants during a long journey,” said Audi in a press release. “It combines the scopes for autonomous driving in an urban environment and on the highway with an unprecedented range for an electric drive. The Aicon will be followed by further multitalented Audi models, each with their own specialized discipline, ensuring that the vehicle range of the brand with the four rings remains as diverse as it is fascinating.”

This article first appeared on AutoGuide

The post Audi’s Self-Driving Concept Gets Almost 500 Miles on a Single Charge appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2xWkejD
via IFTTT

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...

T-Prime Makes World Premiere at Beijing

[ See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com ] The SUV segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the world and Volkswagen is showing the world how to do it. With the new T-Prime Concept GTE that was revealed today, the company is showing off all of the technology you can look for in its coming models. The T-Prime is a full-size hybrid SUV that can go up to 31 miles on a charge and gets 87 mpg. The hybrid power station is good for 375 hp and 516 lb/ft of torque and puts the power down with 4MOTION all wheel drive. It’ll get you up to 60 in six seconds. The concept’s real party piece, though, is its interior, which features exclusively touch, gesture, and voice controls. Everything from the infotainment, to the display, and even the gears are controlled by touch-screen. The T-Prime Concept GTE is bigger than the Touareg, and design elements are likely to find their way into all of their SUVs, of which there will be many. Volkswagen is also announcing that they expect to make an S...

Watch: The Transport Does a Whole Hell of a lot More than Transport

Petrolicious doesn’t only feature million-dollar classics, it also features the more generally neat, like this 1996 T4 Transporter that became Instagram famous and started and is starting an empire. Callum Creaser’s T4 started life as a panel van, but over the years it has become a homebrew camper van that has gone on adventures around the world. After posting about his adventures to Instagram, the diesel van gained a following and launched The Rolling Home, a series about other people’s small spaces and homey cars. Based on a 1.4-liter diesel with no ECU, Callum says his T4 is easy as pie to work on since information is widely available from sources like ours. The post Watch: The Transport Does a Whole Hell of a lot More than Transport appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2KR01Sv via IFTTT

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog