Audi Creating A Universal Digital Experience

Audi is creating an ecosystem for electric and autonomous driving. With new physical and digital offerings, the premium brand will enrich the customer experience and meet the growing needs and demands for the mobility of the future. Digitalization offers an opportunity to rethink the automobile and for that reason, it is an essential driver of transformation. The ecosystem around the vehicle makes an essential contribution to networked, sustainable premium mobility.

A personalized website, improved myAudi app features, and additional consultation options: Audi is pushing the digitalization of marketing, sales, and aftersales further. In the process, the brand is pursuing a clear vision: interested parties and customers should be offered the possibility of a seamless, emotional, and intuitive brand experience – online as well as offline, across all contact points, from initial interest in an Audi model to the utilization phase.

Intelligent digital solutions are also increasing flexibility and efficiency in production and logistics

Audi is pushing the digitalization of marketing, sales, and aftersales further. In the process, the brand is pursuing a clear vision: interested parties and customers should be offered the possibility of a seamless, emotional, and intuitive brand experience – online as well as offline, across all contact points, from initial interest in an Audi model to the utilization phase. The website, which was relaunched in spring 2021, is the point of entry into Audi's digital offerings. It provides interested parties and customers with personalized information on all models and services. At its heart is an interactive car configurator with high-end visualizations and detailed information. At any point during the configuration process, the user has the option of saving their selected configuration online using a code, downloading it in the form of a brochure, switching directly to an online consultation, or scheduling a test drive at a local dealership.

New services based on C-V2X are increasing traffic safety: an immediate warning that a vehicle in front has slammed on its brakes appears in vehicles behind it.

The vehicle interior is increasingly becoming a personal “experience device,” in which living and working spaces are merged. Infotainment offerings will play a critical role in the interior of the future. A variety of assistance systems and networking with other road users and infrastructure will increase safety and comfort while new technologies like holoride will revolutionize in-car entertainment starting in 2022. In the future, the high bandwidth of 5G mobile communications will make an essential contribution to an infotainment experience in the car that is typical for the brand. Smooth and high-resolution multi-channel audio and video streaming, video conferencing, and immersive gaming via a VR headset will all be possible. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) will make high data rates possible for applications that require a lot of bandwidth. This will significantly increase not only comfort, but also safety. In addition, further developments right up to the “empathetic car,” which knows its occupants, their habits, and their needs and increases comfort, safety, and wellbeing through artificial intelligence, are conceivable.

Nonetheless, digital applications and technologies are not only significantly increasing comfort, but also safety. On the road to the “smart city,” Audi is already networking its models with traffic lights. And with the start of 5G in China, Audi is once again proving its role as an innovation leader in the field of connected cars. Currently, Car2X and C-V2X technologies are the central pillars in that effort. For Car2X, mobile communications technology is permanently installed in each vehicle. The car sends and receives information from other vehicles and components of the traffic-engineering infrastructure – things like traffic lights or intelligent road signs. Car2X communication happens in real time. The data is sent anonymously to the communication network, where they are only saved for a short period.

C-V2X is based on the 5G mobile communications standard and transfers data directly to appropriate receivers within the sender's environment with the least possible latency and the highest possible reliability. Since 2017, Audi models have already been able to alert each other to accidents, service vehicles, traffic jams, slippery road surfaces, and limited visibility. The car-to-X service “Local Hazard Information” assesses various vehicle data for that purpose. In Europe, more than 1.7 million vehicles from the Volkswagen Group will provide the “Hazard Information” service with current data in 2021 and in 2022, that number will be more than three million. In worldwide pilot projects, Audi is testing its hazard warning system for road construction sites or how vehicles can communicate with school buses more safely in order to avoid accidents with schoolchildren. The Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA) service calculates the optimal speed for a “green wave” through traffic lights. Through the ConVex project, Audi is working with Ducati to test C-V2X technology in three situations that are as common for motorcyclists as they are likely to cause accidents: pulling into an intersection, turning left, and sudden braking by the vehicle in front.

As part of Automotive Initiative 2025 (AI25), Audi is expanding its Neckarsulm location to include a leading factory for digital production and logistics in the Group.

The Audi A7 L and A6 L models will initially be equipped in China with a 5G communications module. With its low latency and high availability, 5G offers the conditions needed for safe autonomous driving. That is how using 5G to network with traffic light systems ensures more efficient and relaxed driving in the city. New services based on C-V2X are increasing traffic safety: an immediate warning that a vehicle in front has slammed on its brakes appears in vehicles behind it. Or a warning of approaching service vehicles, even when they cannot be heard or seen yet.

Intelligent digital solutions are also increasing flexibility and efficiency in production and logistics. Audi is playing a central role in the Volkswagen Group's digitalization strategy. As part of Automotive Initiative 2025 (AI25), Audi is expanding its Neckarsulm location to include a leading factory for digital production and logistics in the Group. Partners like the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, the Technical University of Munich, SAP, and Capgemini are supporting that process. AI25 is an interdisciplinary network for factory transformation.