2011 Audi Tt-s Coupe S-tronic Quattro Awd on 2040-cars

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Audi considers a rugged SUV — maybe on the Scout platform

Audi engineers are formulating plans to possibly build a “super saloon” luxury off-roader SUV in 2027, It would compete in a segment that now includes the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class, according to a report in BritainÂ’s Autocar. According to Audi designer Marc Lichte, quoted in the story, the platform for the new model could be borrowed from the Volkswagen GroupÂ’s recently announced sister brand, Scout Motors, which is currently developing electric-powered concepts and prototypes. While Audi has developed a PPE (Premium Platform Electric) architecture for its base EV lineup, that would be replaced in the planned model with ScoutÂ’s ladder chassis to provide the steep departure angles and ground clearance needed to negotiate tough terrain, as well as with the latest generation of AudiÂ’s Quattro four-wheel-drive technology, Autocar reports. Audi is well into development of its Activesphere project, an enticing design blend of coupe and hatchback. The Activesphere uses PPE, co-developed by Audi and Porsche, and will appear in a production Audi product by the end of this year. Audi says. Beyond that, “I think there is space" for a rugged SUV in AudiÂ’s passenger car lineup,  Lichte said. “There is potential because there are only two premium players” in this particular segment" (Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover) “and I think there is a space for a third one.” The upscale Defender was by far Land RoverÂ’s best-selling car last year, with 66,805 sold, and the G-Class set a new sales record the previous year with 41,174 moved worldwide. Audi obviously would like to capitalize on this popularity of the rugged 4x4 segment. The proposed competitor, said Lichte, “will not look like a G-Class and it will not look like a Defender, I can promise you. It will be something else."

Audi will have an autonomous car in 2020 using NVIDIA tech and AI

Audi and NVIDIA have been working together for a while, with most of the results being fancy infotainment systems like the current version of MMI and Audi's Virtual Cockpit display setup. Now the two are partnering to build autonomous vehicles that will leverage NVIDIA technology. Audi has a demonstrator now and promises a fully autonomous car for the year 2020. The tech underlying these new self-driving vehicles is NVIDIA's DRIVE computing platform. It uses the latest in artificial intelligence concepts, including neural networks, which are basically computer science's way of modeling decisionmaking after the way the human brain works. The network is able to learn and improve as it goes by making new connections. Machine learning tasks being handled by neural networks include computer vision, which can use a combination of sensors and cameras to help a computer, in this case the car, figure out what's going on in an environment to navigate through it. The companies are already demonstrating a version of DRIVE, the DRIVE PX 2, in the autonomous Audi Q7 shown above. The crossover is able to figure out its own path and can sense and drive on different types of surfaces, including pavement, grass, and dirt, plus it can navigate the cones of a simulated construction zone while reading dynamic detour signs. In 2018, Audi will expand testing of its autonomous vehicles on California public roads. The manufacturer has been permitted to test cars in the state since 2014. In announcing the expansion, Audi makes a point to mention it intends to follow applicable laws to the letter, which seems like more than a veiled reference to the trouble Uber found itself in recently when it didn't quite meet testing requirements in San Francisco. Audi has also promised Level 3 autonomy from the 2018 A8, which will feature a system called Traffic Jam Pilot to control the steering, throttle, and brakes at speeds below 35 mph. The company's previous autonomous work includes a self-driving RS7 track car named Bobby, which our own Jonathan Buckley got to race against in the Translogic episode below. Related Video:

2014 Audi RS7 [w/video]

The subject of what makes up a true "supercar" is a difficult one, fraught with personal connotations and the rare ability to bring close colleagues into heated confrontation with one another in the blink of an eye. I say this because, while the 2014 Audi RS7 most certainly does not make the supercar cut on a few levels to my way of thinking - not rare enough, expensive enough or wearing an appropriately evocative body - it is unquestionably an "everyday supercar" of remarkable ability. And, pertinently, it is one that proved willing to ply its trade in every version of winter that Michigan had to offer it.
I had winter four ways during my week-long loan with the RS7. A period of crisp temperatures and dry roads, presided over by light blue skies as wide as the horizon, soon gave way to spitting, freezing rain blanketed in slightly misleading warmer air. Then there was snow. Not the massive blanket we saw in the first week of the New Year, but more than enough to see my neighbors stocking up on Ice Melt and replacing their shovels for the season. Finally, temperatures dropped to the mid teens, cottony snow compressed into a hard pack and all residual moisture on the mostly cleared roads morphed into the very slickest of ice. Timeless curses were uttered by cranky commuters in smoking breaths. Pure Michigan.