transport

Autonomous and off-road

At the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, Audi presented an electric concept car AI: Trail Quattro, which is designed to show how the SUVs of the future will look like.
1 October, 2019
Most cutting-age car concepts somehow manage to anticipate future production models, but this is not the case. Creating Audi AI: Trail, the development team tried to showcase us the possible SUV of the distant future. A future in which there will be no place for internal combustion engines, vehicles will be controlled by autopilots, but people will continue to have a passion for conquering hard-to-reach places.
The length of the Audi AI: Trail is no more than the one of a B-class hatchback (4150 mm), although the width (2150 mm) and height (1670 mm) are considerable.

Fitted with four electric motors and permanent Quattro all-wheel drive, the carbon, aluminum and steel show vehicle looks like a luxurious lunar rover.

The glass-lined passenger pod, looking like a cockpit of a helicopter, features shell seats with four-point harnesses, and the rear seats are comprised of tube frames and fabric for hammock-like seating. Panoramic glazing is also used for ceiling and the part of the body were the grille is located – transparency works for wider visual range.

Images: Motor.ru
One more unusual detail of the car is its lightning system. Apart from ordinary headlights, "five rootless, triangular, electrically operated drones with integrated matrix LED elements" "sit" on the upper trunk, but on command can take off and illuminate the road from different points at a distance from the car. They also have the ability to broadcast the image from the cameras to the on-Board monitor via Wi-Fi connection — a useful feature in order to assess the terrain in advance before the off-road assault.

Thanks to the use of lightweight materials, such as aluminium, the AI:Trail Quattro weighs just 1,750 kilograms, which is a remarkable result considering the four electric motors and the large lithium-ion battery. The latter provides a range of between 400 to 500 kilometers on roads or "easy off-road terrain" measured by the WLTP. If you go deep off-roading, where energy consumption is higher, the car will be able to cover approximately 250 km at a single charge.

Images: Motor.ru
In addition, the concept is equipped with a complex Audi AI, which combines various systems running under the control of artificial intelligence. Each of the systems is self-learning and constantly interact with the environment and passengers.

Assisting electronics AI: TRAIL Quattro provides the fourth level of autonomy, and also helps the driver on the road. In this case, the capabilities of the system are limited to a certain territory, or geometric terrain of the SUV.

Images:Motor.ru
Aluminium, one of the most sustainable materials, is widely used in the body of the car, which stresses its important feature – despite being off-road and pretty massive, the Audi AI gets all the major characteristic of an electro car which means it is "green" and eco-friendly.

Banner image: Motor.ru