[AutonomousVehicles] The Audi Grandsphere concept is the company's vision of a self-driving luxury future

[Cornelius Butler]

Hi Everyone,
Audi has designed a new self driving car concept. below is the article link
and text.

Article Link:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/02/business/audi-grandsphere-concept/index.html

Article Text:

The Audi Grandsphere concept is the company's vision of a self-driving
luxury future
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business

Updated 2:17 PM ET, Thu September 2, 2021

(CNN Business)The Audi Grandsphere, revealed Wednesday, is the German
automaker's idea of what self-driving luxury car could be, with controls
that fold away and lounge-style seats in the front.
Audi has yet to release anything like a fully self-driving car, but the
Grandsphere concept plays with the idea of how we interact with vehicles
when the driver doesn't need to acually drive. Much like the recently
unveiled Audi Skysphere concept, which imagined a sports car in which
driving is optional, the Grandsphere concept imagines a luxury car where
the driver can just ride.

And while the engineers at Audi haven't actually gotten the Grandsphere to
drive itself yet, automotive interior designers are playing with the
possibility
Usually, in big, roomy luxury cars, the back seat is where you really want
to be. Those are the seats that recline like those in a first-class airline
cabin, and it's where you might have access to a drinks cooler and glasses
for refreshments. The front seats are nice, too, but not as much fun,
because that's where the serious business of driving takes place.

But there's no need for pleasure to take a back seat in the Grandsphere.
The steering wheel and pedals fold away into the dashboard and the floor
when the concept car goes into "autonomous mode."

Then the front seats can slide back and recline. To allow the maximum
possible space for those front seats, the back seats are nearly
non-existent. There's just a small two-seat bench in the back, which seems
hardly luxurious at all.

The Grandsphere is about as long as an Audi A8L, Audi's current
long-wheelbase luxury car, but all that space is given over almost entirely
to the comfort of two people and, perhaps, a couple of other less fortunate
guests. The emphasis on the front seat comfort allowed designers to give
the four-door Grandsphere the sloping shape of a two-door touring car.
Those two front occupants have access to a host of entertainment options.
Between the seats, where most cars have a center storage console, there's a
cooler for drinks and storage for glasses.

The dashboard is made of light colored wood with no glass screens. In the
car's "human-driven mode," gauges are projected onto the surface. When
gauges aren't needed, videos or reading material can be projected instead
for the amusement of the driver and passenger. Otherwise, pleasant abstract
designs can fill the empty space on the dashboard. Meanwhile, back seat
passengers can enjoy a potted plant growing just behind the front seats.

The Grandsphere is an electric car with one electric motor driving the
front wheels and another the back, giving the car all-wheel-drive. Without
space needed for a big gasoline engine or transmission, the cabin of the
car extends far to the front of the vehicle, providing ample interior space.
Besides technological advances needed to provide for true self-driving, a
car like Grandsphere would also require regulatory changes allowing the
steering wheel and pedals to be out of the driver's reach.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/autonomousvehicles_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210904/152146ae/attachment.html>