Text | Yang Xiaolin
Figure | Source Network
With the blessing of key technologies such as autonomous driving, electric drive, 5G and AI artificial intelligence, mobile travel dominated by traditional fuel vehicles will enter the era of intelligent travel in the future. But how wonderful is smart travel in the future electrification era? It is far from enough to explore with imagination. No, at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), auto companies, parts giants and IT technology companies all came.
Because the popularity of CES is so high, north american auto show, which has a history of one hundred years, has to be postponed to the middle of this year. This shows from one side that under the huge trend of technological change, traditional automobile enterprises have to adapt to the new trend of the times and take action as soon as possible to embrace a better future for smart travel. On the one hand, there are tradITional car companies full of anxiety, and on the other hand, it giants eager to try. Everyone is eager to win the leading role of this cross-century change.
It is only in the last two years that car companies have become the protagonists of CES booths. On the stage of CES in North America in 22, the traditional automobile corps, headed by the top three German BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi), has the largest exhibition momentum. In addition to ABB, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Nissan have become the popular protagonists of major car companies at CES, followed by IT giants such as Google and Amazon, and auto parts suppliers such as electronic appliances.
The most unreasonable player at this year's CES is SONY, a once-silent and declining Japanese electronics giant. This guy directly exhibited a concept car VISION with pure electric drive and all kinds of electronic sensors without calling? S。 Judging from the popularity of the scene, the SONY booth, located in a relatively marginal position in the electronic enterprise pavilion area, was once crowded because of the appearance of a concept car.
It is no exaggeration to say that SONY is the most popular booth among non-automobile brands at this year's CES show. What is even more shocking to the automobile industry is that under the premise that electronic and electrical giants such as Apple and Dyson have given up their unpredictable plans to build cars one after another, SONY, which is silent, not only brought a concept car that surprised people, but also showed its forward-looking concept of electric platform and a complete idea of high-end intelligent electric vehicles.
for SONY, which suddenly entered the automobile industry, its dream did not stop at the idea, but the thoughtful plan and the input into action. This makes the car giants who once shouted for the "new four modernizations" (electrification, automation, intelligence and * * *) feel embarrassed? Of course, when it comes to the deep water area of change, the car companies with two legs standing in the river and SONY with one foot just entering the river are obviously not qualified in the same breath.
after visiting the CES booths of most automobile companies, brother yi has a deeper understanding that German automobile companies, who are more anxious about the challenge of smart travel in the era of electrification, are often more bold and radical in R&D investment and market layout. Of course, this is only an overall feeling, and individual car companies also show obvious differences. For example, in the German BBA, the transformation actions of Audi and BMW are obviously faster than those of Mercedes-Benz, and the difference between speed and speed cannot represent which is better or worse for the time being.
among them, Audi, backed by the German Volkswagen Group, is the most active in terms of strategic deployment and overall performance. For example, at this year's CES, Mercedes-Benz and BMW only exhibited one or two new concept cars, while Audi not only brought an e-tron army that was infinitely close to mass production, but also separately displayed six "black technology" applications suitable for intelligent travel scenes in the future electrification era. In this sense, Audi is the most "anxious" and the most daring car giant.
among the four models exhibited by Audi, except for the new A4, which is the world's first mid-term modified model, which is a traditional fuel vehicle equipped with a light mixing system, the other three models are e-tron production vehicles and concept cars. These three models are: Audi e-tron second production model e-tron? Sportback pure electric coupe SUV, Audi Q4? E-tron concept car (Audi Q4 pure electric version) and future urban smart travel explorer Audi AI:ME concept car.
Audi AI:ME is the latest member of the concept car family launched by Audi brand as early as 217. As a cutting-edge concept car for urban travel solutions, Audi AI:ME has a compact body design with a small size, an interior cabin design with a sense of space and futurity, and L4-class automatic driving function, so that users can enjoy driving time in the car. Audi AI:ME is also equipped with a variety of high-tech configurations for communication, entertainment or relaxation.
before the introduction of the AI:ME concept car, Audi has customized a number of concept cars with forward-looking concepts according to different user usage scenarios: for example, Audi AI:CON, which is more inclined to long-distance driving, Audi AI:RACE, which is suitable for racetracks, and Audi AI:TRAIL, which is suitable for all-terrain road conditions. At the stage of Audi AI:ME, it shows that Audi has come up with a travel solution applying the latest technology for future urban travel with the most frequent road conditions and driving scenes.
Audi AI:ME is 4.3m long and 1.9m wide, and its body size is compact. However, with a wheelbase of 2.77m and a body height of 1.52m, the interior space of Audi AI:ME is comparable to that of an A+ class car. Audi AI:ME adopts "2+X" cockpit layout, which can be flexibly configured according to the seat position and storage space requirements. Due to the "petite" body and light weight, the Audi AI:ME equipped with a 65 kWh battery pack can provide completely sufficient cruising range.
In Audi AI:ME, there are two "black technologies" worthy of special interpretation-L4-level automatic driving applicable to urban road conditions and intelligent lighting system with real-time interactive function.
Audi AI:ME is specially designed for urban road conditions with driving speed of 2-7km/h, and it can realize L4-level automatic driving under this road condition. Under the L4 automatic driving system, vehicles can be completely driven by the system in specific areas such as highways or designated areas in the city center without the intervention of drivers; When the vehicle drives out of the above designated area, the driver needs to take over the control of the vehicle again. To this end, Audi AI:ME still retains the traditional steering wheel and pedal control unit.
as we all know, even though the level of autonomous driving technology is still improving, L4-level autonomous driving is still the second highest level of autonomous driving under the global general standards. Another Audi concept car, AI:CON, has the L5-class fully automatic driving function. Once this model is mass-produced, it means that the real driverless era that completely liberates drivers has arrived. At that time, the era of more efficient car enjoyment will really come.
in addition to infinitely approaching the application of unmanned L4 autopilot technology, another "black technology" of Audi AI:ME, the intelligent lighting system, is also amazing in practical application.
when Audi AI:ME allows pedestrians to cross the road, the LED unit and micro-matrix projector at the front of the vehicle can project simple and easy-to-understand symbols on the road or wall in front to inform pedestrians. This function can also illuminate the area near the door for passengers to ensure that passengers can get in and out of the vehicle safely, and can also play a role in prompting other road users. The matrix projector can also automatically light up the surrounding environment for other road users through weak overall lighting.
Audi AI:ME can also interpret the signals sent by other vehicles, and use its own lighting system to further amplify the interpreted signals when it is determined to be beneficial to the surrounding traffic. For example, Audi AI:ME can detect this signal which may indicate a potential danger when the vehicle driving ahead is using a weak danger warning flash, and amplify it through the lamp projection and LED unit, so that all road users around can clearly receive this danger signal.
As a recognized "lighting factory" in the industry, Audi showed its latest exploration achievements in lighting technology at this CES exhibition with the help of "people-oriented lighting concept" and the technical display of digital matrix LED headlights. Human-oriented lighting (HCL) refers to the lighting concept that not only pays attention to people's visual perception, but also pays attention to the emotional and physiological effects of lighting. The focus of "people-oriented lighting concept" is to keep passengers awake and pay more attention.
Written at the end:
From the application of autonomous driving technology to the exploration of intelligent lighting photo technology, Audi's vigilant attitude and all-out exploration and investment in the process of transformation and electrification have helped it to capture the market demand that has not been highlighted on a large scale with the keenest sense of smell. The so-called "sorrowful soldiers will win" is the truth to some extent. Intelligent travel in the era of electrification belongs to the most well-prepared changers.
This article comes from the author of Chejia, car home, and does not represent car home's standpoint.