Park your Audi via iPhone

Audi has unveiled a range of new high-tech car systems at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, including a feature that allows drivers to park their cars remotely via smartphone.

Audi's technology showcase at CES - one of world’s biggest electronics trade shows - is titled "Electronics trends over the next decade" and provides a sneak peak at what Ingolstadt's best and brightest boffins are working on, including laser lighting and automated driving technology.

Making use of an advanced array of digital 'eyes' including a laser scanner, a pair of radar sensors, a wide-angle video camera and eight ultrasonic sensors, Audi vehicles will be able to drive themselves for short periods at speeds of 60km/h or less in the near future.

The German car-maker is confident that within 10 years it will be "technically feasible" for its cars to be driving themselves. That is accelerate, brake and steer "within certain limits", while avoiding other vehicles, pedestrians, obstacles and so on.

Audi reckons this sort of tech, which it dubs 'piloted driving', will be ideal for hands-free driving in congested traffic.

The technology will assist parking too, allowing the driver to step out of the car and walk away from the vehicle while it parks itself. Driver's can even command the car to park itself, then shut down the engine and lock the doors via their smartphone.

Audi's Head of Electrics/Electronics Development, Ricky Hudi, explained that Audi will implement various new technologies in its vehicles, including improved connectivity to the Internet, traffic infrastructure and other vehicles.

"At Audi you’d be hard pushed to find an innovation that isn't related to electronics nowadays.

"This decade will see us network the car seamlessly with the environment, under the Audi connect banner – with the driver, the Internet, the infrastructure, and with other vehicles," he said.

As the competition between premium car-makers increases, particularly when it comes to in-car technology, Audi is hoping it can score a few runs with a customisable instrument panel.

Instead of staring at the same gauges and dials day in day out, future Audis will allow drivers to tailor what they see in front of them, via fully digitised high-resolution instrument displays.

"In all our technical areas the innovation cycles are short, and the competition is cut-throat," stated Mr Hudi.

"At Audi we see that as an obligation to become even more progressive, more agile, and more innovative," he said.

The use of voice control will also underpin Audi's in-car technology push, with plans to extend its email voicing and text message dictation functions which made their debut on the new Audi A3.

Lighting technology will continue to play an important part in future Audi product development and as one of the first car companies to make extensive use of LED lighting, Audi's 2013 CES exhibit showcased plenty of new lighting technology, including applications of lasers and OLEDs.

Perhaps the most intriguing development is Audi’s laser projection brake lights, designed to keep tailgaters at bay. In normal conditions the brake lights project a line on the road behind the car, a clear visual indication to following vehicles to keep a safe distance.

The laser projection system also works in foggy or rainy conditions, forming a floating warning triangle visible to other motorists.

As Audi explains, "The lighting on tomorrow's Audi models will react actively to environmental conditions, thus increasing active safety further."

The premium German car-maker is also experimenting with organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, which are smaller, thinner and more easily sculpted than regular LEDs. Audi’s plan is to cover entire surfaces of its cars with OLEDs that allow for fluid illumination patterns.