Love Audis? Ready to go electric? How about giving up driving altogether, at least in bumper to bumper traffic when you’d rather be reading Grisham’s latest. Our Audi specialists have some good news for you. The car manufacturer plans to soon debut not one but two electric, self driving cars. Why not give up both the gas pump and road rage for New Years?
Audi debuted two e-tron electric-car concepts, the Audi Aicon and Audi Elaine, at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show.
A 100% Self Driving Robot Car
The question is how much of the wheel are you ready to give up? If you’re ready to go completely driverless, the Aicon is a fully-autonomous level 5 vehicle. It literally doesn’t have a steering wheel, or gas pedals for that matter. And yes, feel free to lie back and catch some ZZZs. The interior features a lounge-like cabin with two single-person seats (or chairs) and a bench seat that could work perfectly well as a makeshift nap zone.
Still Love to Drive Sometimes?
If you still want to rock your James Bond driving skills from time to time, but would prefer a nap over the rush hour commute, the Audi Elaine is a happy medium. The Elaine measures at level 4 on the self-driving car scale, which means the driver can take control if he or she prefers. As Green Car Reports explains:
“The onboard Highway Pilot system is capable of taking control of all human-driver functions between speeds of 37 and 80 mph, which makes it an expansion of Audi’s current Traffic Jam Assistant in the 2019 A8.
The level 4 system is capable of passing other vehicles, changing lanes, and all other normal functions needed to drive safely at higher speeds.
The driver may also retake control at any time during Highway Pilot operation—but will still have to be in driving position, at the wheel, and ready to retake control if required.”
Our car electrical specialists have been following the development of these cars like absolute geeks. On a single charge, the Aicon can drive 500 miles on a single charge, and the battery pack of undisclosed capacity can be recharged to 80 percent in 30 minutes via an 800-volt charging system. That’s pretty awesome.
