A group of journalists from around the world got to experience “piloted driving” in an Audi A7 on the streets of Shanghai as the first Consumer Electronics Show in Asia kicked off a couple of weeks ago. The keynote address by Audi and the exhibition booth for the premium brand focused on the connected car of the future, with infotainment services, new control and display concepts, and innovative new light features.
In the field of piloted (or autonomous) driving, Audi is at the forefront of progress in the automotive industry – over the next few years the brand will be introducing its new technologies, step by step, into production. At CES Asia, the company demonstrated the high maturity level of its technology with a prototype – an A7 Sportback that drove itself along a roughly 15-kilometer route through Shanghai.
In addition to the piloted A7, Audi connect was the centerpiece of Audi’s presentation. It gives cars with LTE the fastest Internet connection currently available; Audi is working with with Chinese company Huawei to develop an LTE module specifically for the Asian market. Passengers can connect their mobile devices to a wireless hotspot.
Another innovation is the Audi tablet, which is celebrating its premiere in the new Q7 and which was developed especially for use in cars. It connects with the MMI navigation plus via Wi-Fi and can also be used outside of the car. Another highlight is a new type of gesture control for the Audi tablet – in the future it will let passengers sit back comfortably while operating the device.
CES Asia is a massive electronics exhibition is organized by the Consumer Electronics Association, which also hosts the annual CES in Las Vegas. Audi has established itself since 2010 as one of the world’s major exhibitors from the automotive segment, and has opened the show several times with the traditional keynote address.