CES 2016: Audi presents organic LEDs

Apart from showing off its three-dimensional virtual reality showroom, Audi has used this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to update consumers on its other new-age technologies.

Using an interior mock-up of the Audi e-tron quattro concept car as a base, Audi presented new solutions for its human-machine interface, highlighted by the use of curved OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) for the new-gen Audi virtual cockpit.

Active Matrix OLED tech is said to offer new creative freedoms in designing display shapes. Key multi-media interface functions can be controlled via touch (MMI touch response, which is sensitive enough to trigger from gentle pressure, to reduce distraction) or voice.

Audi’s Modular Infotainment Platform MIB2+ gains further computational power to allow such advancements. Capable of downloading data to the car at up to 300MB per second, it also enables improved mobile connectivity to improve voice quality and reduce call connection times.

Integrated Wi-Fi, thanks to Audi connect, can download from the internet at speeds up to 100MB per second. Passengers can freely browse the web with up to eight devices capable of connection and there is a free Audi MMI connect app for smartphone users.

Programs such as Google Earth and Street View are also accessible, along with vital information such as flight times and parking information, all displayed on the 12.3-inch TFT virtual cockpit screen, which is 3D graphic capable. Items such as Audi Emergency Call will be added to production Audis in Europe and the United States shortly.

Car-to-X tech is also being rolled out internationally in 2016. When fitted, Audi says its new machines will form ‘part of a swarm’, reporting on detected speed limits and hazardous locations to a cloud-based server via the mobile phone network. All this information is then fed back to similar Audi users and forms part of the regular navigation map updates.

Audi’s e-tron quattro concept will also star in Vegas, and is a preview of a future production model that should arrive in 2018. Its piloted driving technologies are a further showcase for the future.

The e-tron offers pilot driving in traffic jams as well as in parking situations
Lighting is also a key of Audi’s tech make-up. Matrix OLED and matrix laser lighting will soon spread wider into production vehicles.

Finally, Audi Fit Driver focuses on driver well-being, the brand’s vision being to have drivers step out of their vehicle more relaxed than when they entered.

A wearable ‘wristband’ monitors heart rate, skin temperature and other parameters while the car’s sensors supply information on breathing rate, driving style, weather and traffic flow.

The car then analyses the data and adapts the environment to ‘relax, vitalise or even protect’ the driver. Expect this tech to expand with piloted driving functionality in the coming years.