At Auto Shanghai 2019, Audi is introducing its mobility concept for the megacities of the future.
The showcar, known as the Audi AI:ME, offers compact dimensions, a spacious, futuristic interior, and the ability to drive autonomously at level 4.
This allows the occupants to do what they like with their time on board. The Audi AI:ME offers a broad range of high-tech features for communication, entertainment, or simply relaxation.
There is a reason that the name AI:ME emphasises the relation to the Audi AIcon, the study of automated long-distance operation introduced in 2017.
The AIcon will flank the world premiere on the stage of the Audi booth at Auto Shanghai 2019.
With an exterior length of 4.3 metres and a width of 1.9 metres, the Audi AI:ME takes up as much traffic space as a present-day compact car.
However, the wheelbase of 2.77 m and the height of 1.52 m indicate interior dimensions that are more likely to be found in the next higher class. This is made possible by the architecture of the electric drive.
It allows for short overhangs and a large-volume interior without a propeller shaft tunnel. The drive unit is positioned on the rear axle and mobilises 125 kW (170 metric hp).
For the occupants, the compact drive package offers a maximum amount of objectively available space, spatial comfort, and a great deal of variability. The Audi AI:ME is designed as a 2 plus-x-seater.
Its layout relies on a variety of configurations for seat positions and stowage space. While only the individual seats at the front will be used during most journeys, the car offers space for up to four people in the front and on the rear bench if necessary.
Audi AI is the cipher for a variety of electronic systems that relieve strain on drivers and simultaneously offer them new possibilities to use the time spent in the car.
To this end, Audi AI also uses strategies and technologies from the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
It also combines vehicle intelligence, which makes automated driving possible in the first place, and interaction intelligence, which turns the vehicle into the occupants’ partner.
Audi AI systems are capable of learning and thinking, while also being proactive and personal.
They will be able to continually interact with their surroundings and passengers, and thus adapt themselves in a better way than ever before to the requirements of those on board.
What is long established in rail transportation and even aviation is at the threshold of a breakthrough in automotive transportation—automated driving.
The Audi AI:ME is designed for use in the city and for driving at what is known as level 4. This is the second-highest level on a standardized international scale for increasing automation.
Although systems with level 4 do not require any assistance on the part of the driver, their function is limited to a specific area—such as highways or a specially equipped area in inner cities.
In these places, the driver can completely transfer the task of driving to the system. The driver needs to resume the task only when the car leaves the area defined for fully automated driving.
By contrast to the Audi AIcon, a vehicle with level-5 function that is always fully autonomous, the Audi AI:ME is therefore equipped with the traditional steering wheel and pedal control elements.
