Audi’s Activesphere crossover concept can turn into a pickup truck
The interior introduces a world-first virtual augmented reality tech from sci-fi hollywood movies
Audi has been releasing a slew of futuristic concept studies in the post-COVID world. The first of the lot comprised the Skysphere roadster, a luxurious coupe grand tourer, in 2021, followed by Audi’s idea of a luxury sedan in the future, the Grandsphere concept. Then came the Urbansphere concept, an SUV-based iteration of the Grandsphere. But now, Audi takes the road not taken after venturing into the off-road space by launching the Activesphere Concept.
A four-door crossover coupé known as the Audi Activesphere concept is the latest in Audi’s futuristic ‘Sphere’ concept series. Besides its imposing exterior design and 22-inch wheels, the Activesphere’s party piece has got to be the Sportback rear which transforms into an open cargo bed at the press of a button. Beware, Tesla’s Cybertruck.
Audi claims the Activesphere concept is a versatile vehicle that synthesises on and off-road driving with autonomous capabilities and adaptive suspension. It can stick to its coupe crossover iteration for urban mobility and turn into a pickup truck with enough space to haul two e-bikes to showcase its versatility and off-road capabilities.
The Activesphere concept hides another ace up its sleeve or, rather, its cabin. Audi adds a revolutionary technology in the Activesphere by incorporating augmented reality elements that interact and obey the commands of the car’s occupants. Passengers must put on high-tech headsets that merge physical and virtual worlds by ‘displaying digital content in the occupants’ fields of vision in real time’. In layman’s terms, the minimalist cabin design would light up with 3D content and interactive elements that can be interacted with upon donning the headset. The augmented reality elements would further be superimposed over the real world views outside the vehicle, such as 3D topography graphics that can be projected onto the real landscape. These virtual control panels and displays would remain hidden from the naked or unaided eye. Audi brings ideas from Hollywood sci-fi flicks to life.
This interior-spec augmented reality concept is termed ‘Audi dimensions’ and is available individually for each driver and passenger. Each headset would feature customised controls such as driving status and navigation for the driver.
The Audi Activesphere concept is built on Audi’s Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture and benefits from a range of 600kms and fast charging capabilities, courtesy of 800-volt technology. Electric motors on the front and rear axles of the all-wheel-drive concept deliver a combined total output of 435hp and 720Nm torques.
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