Future generation tech-savvy car owners choose Audi

AUDI ended 2017 on a high note, chalking up numerous awards including recognition in the field of autonomous driving using artificial intelligence (AI).

Last October, my very fortunate godson celebrated his 22nd birthday, and got his birthday wish when he took home a brand new Audi Q5 from PGA Cars, the country’s distributor of Audi vehicles in the country.

The Q5 was only introduced in the local market last Oct. 12, and before making the Q5 as his final choice, I asked him why he wouldn’t consider other premium compact SUV models like Audi’s sibling, the more performance-oriented Porsche Macan, or even other rival German or perhaps even non-German automakers.

His answer was quite simple. Most, if not all, luxury compact SUVs do quite well in ride and cabin comfort, build quality, and performance. But for him, the deal-breaker was Audi’s high tech and very easy-to-read virtual cockpit.

It seems that choosing a luxury performance car has a new dimension these days, especially for the tech-savvy millennial market.

German luxury automaker Audi ended 2017 on a high note specially in the last quarter, chalking up numerous awards including recognition in the field of autonomous driving using artificial intelligence (AI).

Automotive News Europe honored Alejandro Vukotich, head of Automated Driving Development at Audi, with the “Eurostar 2017.”

The automotive trade magazine recognized the 46-year-old for developing the Audi AI traffic jam pilot feature.

The use of AI in the auto industry has gained ground in highly developed countries, and will continue to take off in leaps and bounds as the race to develop “smart” cars that can perform semi- and fully automated driving.

Vukotich joined Audi in 1999 and began his career developing driver assistance systems and has been responsible for their use across almost all model lines since 2009.

The use of AI in automated driving will no longer be a novelty only seen in science fiction movies and will soon become reality and Audi is one of the brands that is taking the lead in its development.

The first model for the four-ring brand is the new and flagship model Audi A8, touted as the first production car in the world developed for conditional automated driving at Level 3.

This mean that on highways and multi-lane expressways with a physical barrier, the Audi AI traffic jam pilot feature in the A8 is capable of handling driving in slow-moving traffic up to 60 km/h (37.3 mph).

It is also designed and programmed to handle starting from a stop, accelerating, steering and braking in its lane.

In the Audi A8, if the driver chooses to activate the system, the driver can then give more attention to other activities inside the vehicle, like interacting with the onboard infotainment system.

The Audi AI traffic jam pilot consists of innovative technologies including a new sensor set with a laser scanner and the central driver assistance controller.

For the 4th time, readers of “auto motor und sport” and “Chip” computer magazines chose Audi as their favorite technology relating to the connected car.

From more than 16,000 participants in the poll, they were asked to select the best systems in 11 categories.

Also in 2017, Audi received two awards—one for its Bang & Olufsen 705 watt sound system with 14 loudspeakers acoustic adaptation to background noise, and the innovation prize for the Audi AI traffic jam pilot in the new A8.

Audi also bagged second place with its voice recognition system in the “telephone integration” category, with the Audi connect SIM in the “entertainment/multimedia” category, with the predictive adaptive cruise control in the “convenience assistance systems” category, and with Audi pre-sense city in the “safety assistance systems” category.

For the second time, Audi took home the “Infotainment System of the Year” title by Business Insider with its MMI system. This features a diverse range of audio functions, precise navigation via Google Maps, Bluetooth integration, Audi Connect 4G LTE connection and a wealth of apps.

Thanks to its very intuitive voice controls, it maintains safe driving operations without being distracted. If one chooses a manually-controlled operation, it can easily be performed with its multifunction steering wheel with excellent interface, thanks to Audi’s virtual cockpit that transforms an analog instrument display cluster into a digital screen that can be customized and adapted to the driver’s wishes and needs.