Biting into an autonomous future
Do you know that story of the three Sphere concepts that Audi would present? That didn’t quite go as expected. After the Skysphere, Grandsphere and Urbansphere, here is the fourth: the Activesphere. The Audi Activesphere Concept is a clear vision of the future with an interior that perhaps plays an even greater role than the packaging.
Will we all drive fully autonomously in a few years? Probably not. Many brands put the development of the autonomous car with which you can imagine your way through automotive life without hands on the wheel on the back burner, but Audi is more committed to it. In 2021, the manufacturer from Ingolstadt lifted the first two study models onto the podium: the Skysphere and the Grandsphere. In April 2022, the Audi Urbansphere followed, unlike its brothers, not a luxurious electric coupe and convertible or top sedan, but an electric space giant. Audi has got the Sphere taste and now comes with a fourth member: the Activesphere Concept.
Nice, that ge-Sphere. But what does the German car manufacturer mean by that? The Sphere concepts reflect Audi’s vision of a future in which autonomous electric transport is central, which logically means that a great deal of attention has been paid to the interior and its possibilities during the development of the study models. This is also the case with this Audi Activesphere Concept, but first the packaging. That is perhaps even more relevant with the Activesphere Concept than with the earlier visions of the future.
Audi Activesphere Concept.
Design
Audi tells AutoWeek that with the Activesphere Concept of the exterior it is equally a experience wanted to make as the interior. Then what are we talking about? At least about a model that stands high on its feet, but it is by no means an SUV traditional SUV. The Audi Activesphere Concept is a 4.98 meter long crossover with a steeply sloping roofline. In terms of shape and length, it is perhaps best described as a futuristic Audi A7 Sportback that is doused in the design language of the Audi A6 e-tron Concept and A6 Avant e-tron Concept, but one that stands high on its legs. state. A ‘Sportback Allroad’, if you will. Anyone who still has the Grandsphere Concept in mind will undoubtedly see great similarities between the design of that car and this Activesphere Concept.
The ground clearance of the 2.07 meter wide attention grabber is 20.8 meters, but can be increased by 4 centimeters and lowered by the same number of centimeters. The wheelbase of Audi’s vision of the future is 2.97 meters, although this is not even noticeable due to the 22-inch light-alloy wheels. Those wheels are capable of opening up off the tarmac during adventures for better cooling. On the road they close again for better streamlining.
Audi Activesphere Concept.
The Activesphere Concept has striking glasswork all around. The windshield dips far forward, making the snout appear longer than it actually is. We see windows at the bottom of the doors and where you normally find Audi’s Singleframe grille, there is a uniform glass part through which, according to Audi, occupants can see what is happening in front of the car.
Furthermore, Audi Activesphere Concept has rear doors that open ‘the wrong way round’. so called suicide doors So. Even more striking is the buttocks of the study model. At the touch of a button, the rear window, among other things, slides up and the tailgate down. Yes, the Audi Activesphere Concept is not only a liftback, but also a pick-up!
Audi Activesphere Concept.
Interior
The Audi Activesphere Concept has a relatively futuristic interior, although the design seems subordinate to the function. Do you drive the Activesphere yourself? Then you have a steering wheel in front of you. That steering wheel itself is of course not a conventional round one – after all, we are talking about a concept car – but is quite square in shape. If you put the Activesphere Concept in autonomous mode, the steering wheel and pedals disappear. So far nothing you haven’t seen before with the Sphere models. More interesting is the way in which you control the functions of the car. All four occupants have access to one augmented reality-glasses. If you sit in the front, you look through your VR glasses in the virtual vacuum that is filled with information about traffic, for example, but there is more. In the digital world that is presented to you through the glasses, you can also operate the climate control with your hands spinning in nothing but air. Would you like to take a look at the destination beforehand? That is also possible.
Audi does not say when it will actually put such things into production, but is playing with futuristic means to show that you can, among other things, fill your time when you are not actively driving.
Technology
Like Audi’s previous Sphere study models and previews such as the Audi A6 e-tron Concept and A6 Avant e-tron Concept, the Activesphere Concept is on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE). The base developed jointly by Porsche and Audi offers the show car a 100 kWh battery and two electric motors with 442 hp and 735 Nm together. Audi speaks of an electric range of more than 600 kilometers, although that is more interesting in the light of the production models that will actually be placed on the PPE platform. The PPE platform uses 800v technology and can charge cars quite quickly on that basis. Audi mentions a charging capacity of 270 kW for the Activesphere Concept.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl