Audi's launched of in-car tech advanced prototype version of its long-wheelbase A8 to showcase the future of in-car broadband technology.
The A8 L is equipped with ‘long-term evolution’ (LTE) broadband technology that offers download speeds of up to 100Mbps. Current in-car 3G connections only allow for download speeds of around 14.4Mbps
The E-tron Spyder is an electric plug-in hybrid two-seater equipped with a 221-kW (300-hp) twin-turbo V6 TDI at the rear axle and two electric motors producing a total of 64 kW at the front axle. The car accelerates to 100 km/h (62.14 mph) in just 4.4 seconds, and top speed is electronically governed at 250 km/h (155.34 mph).
But it wasn’t just the sculptural forms of the E-tron that caught our eye. In both the Wednesday keynote and on Audi’s stand, we saw a series of new technologies that the company says will be available in its next generation of models.
Features available as part of the latest system also include DAB digital radio reception, analogue and digital TV reception and DVD playback, all through the large in-dash monitor.
The new high-tech hard drive has a total capacity of 40 GB, 10GB of which is given over to the 4,000-song ‘mobile jukebox’ facility that can be loaded using SD memory cards. It also holds satellite navigation data covering the whole of Western Europe, replacing the outgoing system’s already widely acclaimed DVD-based technology.
The new hard disk dramatically enhances the already high quality mapping offered by the Audi Satellite Navigation System Plus, significantly increasing the degree of detail and offering a new 3D ‘digital topographical’ view which gives a pictorial depiction of key landmarks to add even greater ‘context’. Wherever possible it even provides a choice of three routes to a chosen destination, including one that has been specifically calculated to require the least possible consumption of fuel.
