THE NEW AUDI A8 – THE FUTURE OF THE LUXURY CLASS
All-new luxury saloon which pushes technological limits in numerous areas, including full driving automation, makes its world debut
- World debut for flagship model at Audi Summit in Barcelona
- New design language and a pioneering touch operating concept
- Piloted driving functions to be rolled out in production Audi A8 versions from 2018
- Available to order in the UK from September, UK pricing TBC, first deliveries in late 2017
Barcelona/Ingolstadt, July 11, 2017 – Today is where the future begins in the luxury class: The new Audi A8 makes its world debut at the Audi Summit in Barcelona. In its fourth generation, the flagship model again sets the benchmark for Vorsprung durch Technik with a new design language, an innovative touchscreen operating concept and systematic drivetrain electrification. The Audi A8 is also the first production car in the world to have been developed for highly automated driving. From 2018, Audi will gradually be taking piloted driving functions such as parking pilot, garage pilot and traffic jam pilot into production.
Doyen of style: the exterior design
The new Audi A8 is stylistically defining – it signals the beginning of a new design era for the entire brand. The front end with its wide, upright Singleframe grille and the fluid, muscular body convey power, elegance, sophistication and modernity, and deliver on the promise made by the Audi prologue design study. The luxury saloon makes a suitably emphatic statement whether in 5.17-metre ‘standard’ form or as the A8 L, which has a 13 centimetre longer wheelbase.
The Audi brand is renowned worldwide for consistent innovation in design and engineering, for lightweight construction and for quattro permanent all-wheel drive – and every facet of the new A8 reflects these values.
The balanced proportions emphasise all four wheels in equal measure, and the muscular definition above the wheel arches gives visual expression to the quattro drive. Viewed side-on, the upright front end combined with the gently inclined rear create visual tension which is intensified, particularly at night, by the striking HD Matrix LED headlights with Audi laser lighting, and the LED light strip combined with OLED technology at the rear. These produce unique light animations as the driver approaches and leaves the car.
World premiere: the pilot-driving Audi A8
The new A8 is the first production car to have been developed specially for highly automated driving. The Audi AI traffic jam pilot takes charge of driving in slow-moving traffic at up to 37mph on major roads where a physical barrier separates the two carriageways. The system is activated using the AI button on the centre console.
The traffic jam pilot manages starting, accelerating, steering and braking. The driver no longer needs to monitor the car permanently. They can take their hands off the steering wheel permanently and, depending on the national laws, focus on a different activity that is supported by the car, such as watching the on-board TV. As soon as the system reaches its limits, it calls on the driver to take back control of the task of driving.
The introduction of the Audi AI traffic jam pilot means the statutory framework will need to be clarified in each individual market, along with the country-specific definition of the application and testing of the system. The brand’s high quality standards are equally applicable in the realm of highly automated driving. In addition, a range of approval procedures and their corresponding timescales will need to be observed worldwide. Audi will therefore be adopting a step-by-step approach to the introduction of the traffic jam pilot in production models.
From a technical perspective the traffic jam pilot is revolutionary. During piloted driving, a central driver assistance controller (zFAS) now permanently computes an image of the surroundings by merging the sensor data. As well as the radar sensors, a front camera and the ultrasonic sensors, Audi is the first car manufacturer also to use a laser scanner.
The Audi AI remote parking pilot and the Audi AI remote garage pilot autonomously steer the A8 into and out of a parking space or a garage, while the manoeuvre is monitored by the driver. The driver does not need to be sitting in the car – he or she can start the appropriate system from their smartphone using the new myAudi app. It broadcasts a live feed of the parking manoeuvre taken from the car’s 360-degree cameras on their handheld device for easy monitoring.
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