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With the blessing of key technologies such as autonomous driving, electric drive, 5G, AI artificial intelligence, mobile travel dominated by traditional fuel vehicles will enter the era of intelligent travel in the future. But how beautiful is smart travel in the future electrification era? It is not enough to explore by imagination alone. No, at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), car companies, parts giants and IT technology companies all came.
Because the popularity of CES is so high, north american auto show, which has a history of one hundred years, has to be postponed until the middle of this year. This shows from one side that under the great trend of technological change, traditional automobile enterprises have to adapt to the new trend of the times, act as soon as possible and embrace the bright future of smart travel. On the one hand, it is a traditional car company full of anxiety, and on the other hand, it giants eager to try. Everyone is eager to win the leading role in this cross-century change.
It is the last two years that car companies have become the protagonists of CES booths. On the stage of CES in North America in 2020, the traditional automobile corps headed by BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi), the top three German companies, has the greatest exhibition momentum. In addition to ABB, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Nissan have become the hot protagonists of major car companies at CES, followed by IT giants such as Google and Amazon and auto parts suppliers such as electronic appliances.
The most irrational thing at CES this year is the once silent Japanese electronics giant Sony. This guy directly exhibited a concept car VISION with pure electric drive and various electronic sensors without calling. S. Judging from the popularity of the scene, the Sony booth located at the relative edge of the electronic enterprise pavilion was once crowded with people because of the appearance of a concept car.
It is no exaggeration to say that Sony is the most popular booth among non-automobile brands at this year's CES show. What is even more shocking to the automobile industry is that under the premise that electronic and electrical giants such as Apple and Dyson have abandoned unpredictable plans to build cars, silent Sony not only brought a surprising concept car, but also demonstrated its forward-looking electric platform concept and complete high-end intelligent electric vehicle ideas.
For Sony, which suddenly entered the automobile industry, its dream did not stay in imagination, but was carefully planned and put into action. This embarrassed the automobile giants who once shouted "new four modernizations" (electrification, automation, intelligence and * * *)? Of course, when it comes to the deep water area of change, the car companies with two legs standing in the river and Sony with one foot just entering the river are obviously not qualified to be compared.
After visiting the CES booths of most vehicle companies, Yi Ge deeply realized that German car companies, who are more anxious about the challenge of smart travel in the era of electrification, tend to be more bold and radical in their investment and market layout in R&D. Of course, this is only the overall feeling, and individual car companies also show obvious differences. For example, the transformation actions of BBA, Audi and BMW in Germany are obviously faster than those of Mercedes-Benz, and the difference between speed and speed cannot represent which is better or worse for the time being.
Among them, Audi, backed by the German Volkswagen Group, is the most active from strategic deployment to overall performance. For example, at this year's CES, Mercedes-Benz and BMW only exhibited one or two brand-new concept cars, while Audi not only brought an e-tron army that was infinitely close to mass production, but also separately displayed six "black technology" applications suitable for smart travel scenes in the future electrification era. In this sense, Audi is the most "anxious" and boldest car giant.
Among the four models exhibited by Audi, except for the new A4, the world's first mid-term modified model, which is a traditional fuel vehicle equipped with a light mixing system, the other three models are e-tron production vehicles and concept cars. These three models are: Audi e-tron second production model e-tron? Sportback pure electric coupe SUV, Audi Q4? E-tron concept car (Audi Q4 pure electric version) and future urban intelligent travel explorer Audi AI:ME concept car.
Audi AI:ME is the newest member of the concept car family launched by Audi brand as early as 20 17. As a cutting-edge concept car for urban travel solutions, Audi AI:ME has a compact body design, an interior cabin design with a sense of space and futurity, and an L4-class automatic driving function, allowing users to enjoy driving time in the car. Audi AI:ME is also equipped with a variety of high-tech configurations, which can be used for communication, entertainment or relaxation.
Before the introduction of the AI:ME concept car, Audi has customized a number of concept cars with forward-looking concepts according to different user usage scenarios: for example, Audi AI:CON, Audi AI:RACE for track and Audi AI:TRAIL for all-terrain road conditions. In the AI:ME stage of Audi, it shows that Audi has put forward a travel solution applying the latest technology in the most frequent road conditions and driving scenarios for future urban travel.
Audi AI:ME has a body length of 4.30m and a width of1.90m. The body size is compact, but the wheelbase is 2.77m and the body height is1.52m. The interior space of Audi AI:ME is comparable to that of A+ class cars. Audi AI:ME adopts "2+X" cockpit layout, which can be flexibly configured according to the seat position and storage space requirements. Due to its petite body and light weight, the Audi AI:ME equipped with a 65 kWh battery pack can provide completely sufficient cruising range.
On Audi AI:ME, there are two "black technologies" worthy of special interpretation-L4-class automatic driving for urban road conditions and intelligent lighting system with real-time interactive function.
Audi AI:ME is specially designed for urban road conditions with a driving speed of 20-70km/h, under which L4-class automatic driving can be realized. Under the L4 automatic driving system, vehicles can be driven by the system in certain areas such as expressway or designated areas in the city center without the intervention of drivers. When the vehicle drives out of the designated area, the driver needs to take over the control of the vehicle again. To this end, Audi AI:ME still retains the traditional steering wheel and pedal control unit.
As we all know, even though the level of automatic driving technology is still improving, L4-level automatic driving is still the second highest level of automatic driving under the global general standards. Another Audi concept car, AI:CON, has L5-class automatic driving function. Once this model is mass-produced, it means that the driverless era of truly completely liberating drivers has arrived. Only then will the era of more efficient car enjoyment really come.
In addition to infinitely approaching the application of unmanned L4 autopilot technology, another "black technology" of Audi AI: ME-intelligent lighting system is also amazing in practical application.
When Audi AI:ME allows pedestrians to cross the road, the LED unit and micro-matrix projector in front of the vehicle can project simple symbols on the road or wall in front to inform pedestrians. This function can also illuminate the area near the door for passengers, ensure passengers to get in and out of the vehicle safely, and also play a role in reminding other road users. Matrix projectors can also automatically illuminate the surrounding environment for other road users through weak overall lighting.
Audi AI:ME can also interpret the signals sent by other vehicles, and use its own lighting system to further amplify the interpreted signals when it is determined that it is beneficial to the surrounding traffic. For example, Audi AI:ME can detect this signal that may indicate potential danger when the vehicle driving ahead is using a weak danger warning flash, and amplify it through light projection and LED unit, so that all road users around can clearly receive this danger signal.
As a recognized "lighting factory" in the industry, Audi demonstrated its latest exploration achievements in lighting technology at this CES exhibition with the help of "people-oriented lighting concept" and the technical display of digital matrix LED headlights. Humanized lighting (HCL) refers to the lighting concept that not only pays attention to people's visual perception, but also pays attention to the emotional and physiological effects of lighting. The focus of "people-oriented lighting concept" is to keep passengers awake and pay more attention.
Write at the end:
From the application of autonomous driving technology to the exploration of intelligent lighting camera technology, Audi's vigilant attitude and all-out exploration and investment in the process of transformation and electrification have helped it capture the market demand that has not been highlighted on a large scale with the keenest sense of smell. The so-called "sorrowful soldiers will win" is this truth to some extent. Intelligent travel in the era of electrification belongs to the most well-prepared changers.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.