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Audi changes the guard at Quattro GmbH

Although it may not have the brand recognition that Mercedes-AMG does or BMW's M division, Audi's Quattro GmbH department is responsible for its most exciting products - including the RS line of performance models and the R8 supercar. For the past year and a half, Quattro GmbH has been led by Franciscus van Meel, but soon it will get a new leader.
According to reports, van Meel (46, pictured right) is being reassigned to head up the Audi R&D center in Beijing. In his place, Audi is promoting Heinz Peter Hollwerweger (60, pictured above) to the post. The move is expected to be confirmed in advance of the Geneva Motor Show, at which point we can expect Audi to claim that it was part of a planned rotation. However sources suggest that van Meel's departure came at the behest of R&D boss Ulrich Hackenberg, who was apparently unhappy with how van Meel has been handling development of the next R8 and of the R8 E-Tron project.
Why Hackenberg would have van Meel reassigned to run one of his own R&D centers is beyond us, but Hollerweger is apparently expected to be able to get the job done faster and better. Whether he'll have any major changes in store for the Quattro division and its products is another matter, but we're looking forward to finding out.

2015 Audi TT's digital gauge cluster to spread throughout lineup

File this one under: "makes sense to us." According to Car and Driver, the slick new gauge cluster found in the 2015 Audi TT will expand to other models in the automaker's lineup. In the near term, expect the tech to make its way into the next R8 supercar (with a special performance display for that model), as well as the upcoming, all-new versions of the A4 sedan and Q7 crossover.
Audi's new customizable gauges first debuted at this year's CES - it uses a 12.3-inch TFT display, and, while similar to the systems found in the Cadillac CTS, XTS and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, this system has the ability to show full-screen, three-dimensional maps. We had a chance to check out the new display in-person at CES, and found it to be impressive, though we're curious to see how distracting it is while driving.
Car and Driver says the system is still undergoing small tweaks before Audi officially launches it in the TT later this year. From there, the display will be standard in the R8, but Audi is unsure about whether or not to offer it as a standalone option in the higher-volume A4 and Q7 models.

The skinny on Delphi's autonomous road trip across the United States [w/videos]

Rolling out of an S-shaped curve along Interstate 95, just past Philadelphia International Airport, the final obstacle between the autonomous car and its place in history appeared on the horizon. So far, the ordinary-looking SUV had traversed the United States without incident. It had gone through tunnels and under overpasses. It circled roundabouts and stopped for traffic lights. Now, on the last day of a scheduled nine-day journey, it was poised to become the first autonomous car ever to complete a coast-to-coast road trip. First, it needed to contend with the Girard Point Bridge. Riding in a rear seat, "I saw that bridge coming, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is going to be a grab-the-wheel moment," said Kathy Winter, vice president of software at Delphi Automotive. The car, an unassuming Audi SQ5 nicknamed Roadrunner, had been well-tested. Back in January, a few inebriated pedestrians fell flat in front of the car during a demonstration in Las Vegas. It was the quintessential worst-case scenario, and the car admirably hit the brakes. More than drunken louts, bridges present a sophisticated challenge for the six radar sensors that feed data to the car's internal processors. Instead of sensing solid objects, radar sensors can read the alternating bursts of steel beams and empty space as conflicting information. "They're a radar engineer's worst nightmare," said Jeff Owens, Delphi's chief technology officer. Girard Point Bridge, a blue skeleton of girded steel that spans the Schuylkill River, might be a bigger challenge than most. Traveling across the lower level of its double decks, the autonomous car's radar sensors had to discern between two full sets of trusses. Cross the Schuylkill, and Delphi's engineers felt confident they'd reach their destination: the New York Auto Show. For now, the sternest test of the trip lay directly in front of them. A Data-Mining Adventure Until that point, the toughest part of the journey had been finding an open gas station in El Paso, TX. Trust in the technology had already been established. The main reason Delphi set out on the cross-country venture with a team of six certified drivers and two support vehicles was to capture reams of data. What better way to do that than dusting off the classic American road trip and dragging it into the 21st century? They did exactly that, capturing three terabytes worth of data across 3,400 miles and 15 states.