Audi shows off car lounge

Audi has revealed its vision of future cabin design for fully autonomous vehicles.

Meet the 'Long Distance Lounge', which imagines the interior of what appears to be a long-wheelbase Audi A8 of the future.

Ditching the traditional two rows of forward facing armchairs, the futuristic A8 looks more akin to an airline's business class lounge with reclining chairs and even a table over which to conduct meetings.

The cars of the future, the German car maker thinks, will be more pod-like. And Audi's not alone with its 'pod' hypothesis.

That's because by 2050, when this cabin concept has been designed for, cars will have ditched the old internal combustion engine and be pure-electric or hydrogen powered. Crucially, by then Audi would have achieved the holy grail of autonomous driving - Level 5.

This is when the car maker can operate in complete isolation from the driver. In fact, even if the driver wanted to intervene some vehicles by then will have no pedals or steering wheel.

Access to the cabin is via a huge single door to a large light spacious cabin.

Instead of carpets, designers have used a self-cleaning wooden floor that sits on a vibration mat that shakes the dirt loose and is sucked up by an on-board vacuum cleaner.

Designed to be almost infinitely configurable, seats can be moved in any way around the cabin. Instead of a traditional mounting mechanism the Audi uses powerful magnets to lock the seats in place.

Once seated, infotainment screens automatically position themselves to project information to passengers' line of sight.

Without the need for a traditional bonnet this frees up space.

Widely accepted to become a reality in the future, this cabin design will require a rethink in terms airbag technology, which currently relies on passengers sitting in fixed positions. Enter the witchetty-grub airbag.