Audi Unveils a Shape-Shifting Concept Car (cnn.com) 79
Audi's latest concept car, the skysphere, will be able to drive itself, the company claims. But the real hook is that, as it changes from human driving to self-driving, the body of the skysphere expands by 10 inches from end-to-end. CNN reports: The concept car's long hood extends forward and the steering wheel and pedals fold away. The driver's side of the dashboard, really a glass display panel, and the gear selector also pull away, creating a more comfortable space for the driver to relax. All this is possible because the skysphere is an electric car powered by a motor that's mounted behind the seats. That means there's not much under the hood to get in the way as the front end moves forward and backward.
In its self-driving mode, the skysphere acts like a touring car, an elegant two seater designed for fast comfortable long distance travel. A longer wheelbase -- the distance between the front and back wheels -- is good for road trips because it can give the car a more stable feel on the highway. And without a steering wheel or pedals, the driver can stretch out, relax and enjoy the scenery. In regular human driving mode, it's more like a sports car. The much shorter wheelbase can give the car a quicker, more responsive driving feel. The car also lowers on its suspension almost a half inch closer to the ground. When put in its sports car mode, a steering wheel unfolds from underneath the dashboard and a set of pedals moves into position in the driver's footwell.
This shape-shifting is Audi's attempt to answer a conundrum facing automotive designers. Their advocates say self-driving vehicles can, theoretically, be safer than human drivers, and offer opportunities to rethink what a car can and should be. But among the challenges they face is consumer adoption from people who actually enjoy driving. And Audi, which boasts about the power and performance of its cars, considers those people to be among its core customers. So this car offers them a comforting compromise.
In its self-driving mode, the skysphere acts like a touring car, an elegant two seater designed for fast comfortable long distance travel. A longer wheelbase -- the distance between the front and back wheels -- is good for road trips because it can give the car a more stable feel on the highway. And without a steering wheel or pedals, the driver can stretch out, relax and enjoy the scenery. In regular human driving mode, it's more like a sports car. The much shorter wheelbase can give the car a quicker, more responsive driving feel. The car also lowers on its suspension almost a half inch closer to the ground. When put in its sports car mode, a steering wheel unfolds from underneath the dashboard and a set of pedals moves into position in the driver's footwell.
This shape-shifting is Audi's attempt to answer a conundrum facing automotive designers. Their advocates say self-driving vehicles can, theoretically, be safer than human drivers, and offer opportunities to rethink what a car can and should be. But among the challenges they face is consumer adoption from people who actually enjoy driving. And Audi, which boasts about the power and performance of its cars, considers those people to be among its core customers. So this car offers them a comforting compromise.
Never gonna happen (Score:4, Interesting)
BMW had something like this a ages ago...
I don't get the point of a concept car. That's the only place engineers dare to try anything. The argument for not bringing them to market is that not enough people would buy them... how the hell do you know when all that is on the market looks exactly the same and has the same features that only differentiate from one another by how broken the and useless they are?
I hated the Fiat Multipla but fuck me, those Italians at least have the balls to try something.
Re:Never gonna happen (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't get the point of a concept car.
Well, there are things you can do in a concept car that you simply can't do in production, regardless of the "would people buy it" question. Concept cars may include stuff that isn't fully street-legal, for instance. Also, manufacturability is a significant contributor to vehicle design (well, to everything design, really). So again you can make a concept car however you like, because it's all being hand-carved out of finest materials and lovingly fit together by artisans. If it's decided to bring the concept to market, a lot of the design details will change when it's being reworked to be stamped out by the hundreds of thousands in an automated factory. I hear you on all cars looking the same though. And the Fiat Multipla... man what a weird vehicle.
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And the Fiat Multipla... man what a weird vehicle.
Is It Possible To Make The Fiat Multipla Look Better? [motor1.com] Interesting concept video of a redesign for the Multipla.
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I don't get the point of a concept car.
It's the same as a fashion show. None of the weird clothes you see on the catwalk actually end up in production, it's just to let the designer show off and to call attention to your brand.
ie. Marketing.
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Welcome to New Slashdot, where cars are explained using fashion show analogies.
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I hated the Fiat Multipla but fuck me, those Italians at least have the balls to try something.
Why do you hate it? Yes, it is ugly, but generally, just because something ugly exists doesn't mean it is worth hating.
Is it because you think it is actually a great car but its look wasted its potential? Did you own one? Did it have other problems than its look?
Generally the people who owned one were very happy with it.
It's not fucking shape-shifting (Score:3)
This is nothing more than a camper slide-out on a much smaller scale. The guy who tried building a motorcycle that converts into a unicycle? That's shape shifting. [popsci.com]
"People who enjoy driving" (Score:5, Insightful)
This (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm starting to wonder if the people involved in car design now actually drive when you have this sort of nonsense not to mention touch screens which make it impossible to do anything useful on the move - No, I don't want to have to navigate 2 sub menus just to turn on the feckin heater or radio while I'm doing 70mph on a busy highway.
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These are not meant to be consumer cars, they are experiments where they build a model to try it out. Often it's hard to really understand the usability of something new without having one to physically try out. Car manufacturers do this all the time and most of the ideas get thrown out, but a few make it to production.
There are some exceptions, like the Honda e which is very similar to the concept vehicle, the changes mostly being due to legal requirements like not having a lit front badge.
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Teslas are very much consumer cars and so are the new electric VWs and they both have BS touchscreen systems that are borderline unusable if you're not stationary with 30 seconds to spare to operate them.
Re:"People who enjoy driving" (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmm, no. I enjoy driving. I like to put the top down and drive down country lanes in the early hours of the morning, as I know there aren't horses and cyclists at those times. It's just me, the car, the smell of burning brakes.
But if I'm using those country lanes to get to a motorway, I really don't want to sit there at 60mph in traffic and speed cameras. Absolutely I'm happy for the car to take over and deal with that bit. I can have a nap, read a book, catch up on work..
There's driving, there's commuting and there's going somewhere. Why would I buy multiple cars if one can efficiently let me do all three?
Re:"People who enjoy driving" (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think I'd ever let the car drive on british country lanes, there are just too many blind corners and junctions with vision obscured by headgerows, lanes only wide enough for 1 vehicle at a time, massive potholes, deep ditches obscured by plants and slippery mud from farm machinery. None of which AI with its extremely narrow focus and understanding of the world can deal with either now or in the forseable future. Its one thing driving on a nice wide US highway with clean vision, quite another driving on the UK and european backroads.
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Its one thing driving on a nice wide US highway with clean vision, quite another driving on the UK and european backroads.
Before going any further, I'd like to stress that I am bearish on autonomous vehicles. Won't buy one, don't want to ride in one, don't want them on the roads I drive. But with that said, I do have to point out that we know it is possible for a sufficiently trained system to navigate all those road conditions you mentioned, using only a rotatable stereoscopic vision system. We know this because we put meaty computers into cars every day and they drive those roads successfully. My take on this is that autonom
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What if the US were to convert one lane on every interstate highway to autonomous cars only, until they are within 20 miles of a major city? Yeah, it would suck for those that don't have an autonomous car, but once the benefit of long distance travel became obvious, many people would purchase them just to travel the interstate system, especially out west where you can travel for hours without approaching a major city.
For those wanting to go coast to coast, more ring roads that go around major cities might
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What if the US were to convert one lane on every interstate highway to autonomous cars only, until they are within 20 miles of a major city?
This is more or less what I'm saying about not wanting to share my roads with autonomous vehicles. But the interstate is the EASY case for autonomous driving. It's all the squirrelly little roads leading up to the interstate, and also stop and go traffic, that are the hard case.
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Imagine if a car could let you drive the squirrelly roads yourself then fold away the steering wheel and pedals when it gets to the long, boring interstate drives?
Oh, wait...
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In a lot of cities with restricted use "diamond" lanes, that's already happened. A lot of diamond lanes allow EVs without tolls or threat of citation for violating carpool rules.
Oh really? (Score:2)
Oh yeah, a stereoscopic vision system, that'll solve it.
You're driving down a single track country lane - there's a car coming the other way and there's no passing place. What do you do? A human driver would maybe flash the other car with his lights and try to reverse or wait for the other guy to do so. But then he reverses and encounters a car coming up behind him.
Explain how an AI would solve this? Take your time.
It happens every single day in the UK.
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Yes, my mistake, I misread your post. I agree with you - until an AI has a theory of the human mind - or we just ban human drivers - then AI driven cars will never work effectively in any demanding road conditions.
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Hmm, no, that's not the case at all.
Humans also have other senses, and artificial aids such as mirrors.
Touch, sound, balance all play a role, and yes there's the impressive wetware coordinating it all. But computers can do all that too.
Autonomous vehicles aren't ready yet, but we won't need to replicate human level intelligence to get them working.
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The exact same way a human would? Pull over to the shoulder as far as possible and pass slowly.
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What shoulder? Which part of a single track lane is confusing you? Typical yank, not a fucking clue about driving anywhere else in the world. Here you go numbnuts, educate yourself:
https://goo.gl/maps/pFXfr6M1fJ... [goo.gl]
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Re: Oh really? (Score:2)
one car width dirt roads
In the UK, that's the A1.
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What part of "the exact same way a human would" is confusing to you? In fact, you might be surprised that also in North America, we have gravel country roads only wide enough for a single vehicle to pass, so don't act like you're some kind of higher being because you also have narrow single-lane roads. And you know what? No autonomous vehicle system that exists today claims to be able to handle that situation, and would actually not allow you to enable it on a road like that; your entire argument is a st
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Translation: I got caught out writing a load of ignorant crap so I'll paste a page of blind-em-with-science waffle and hope no one notices my original post yet praises my googled "insights" here.
Bad luck pal, no ones fooled, try again.
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That it AC? Well thanks for your valuable input.
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We have that in the US as well.
For one, if it's level 4, then single lane roads may be part of the 'not applicable', and thte car could safely stop prior to that leg of the trip if a human fails to take over. Those rural roads can be a problem, but they are relatively rare.
If a vehicle attempts it, then it still may fare better at safely stopping and forcing human to pay attention. I had a relative die because they were in a car turning a corner in a single-lane road and got knocked over the cliff on the o
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I don't think I'd ever let the car drive on british country lanes, there are just too many blind corners and junctions with vision obscured by headgerows, lanes only wide enough for 1 vehicle at a time, massive potholes, deep ditches obscured by plants and slippery mud from farm machinery. None of which AI with its extremely narrow focus and understanding of the world can deal with either now or in the forseable future. Its one thing driving on a nice wide US highway with clean vision, quite another driving on the UK and european backroads.
How on earth do humans manage? With their limited senses, slow reaction times, limited number of control limbs and only partial control over the vehicle (does your car have 4 brake pedals and 4 accelerator pedals?)
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Asking that questions demonstrates you have zero knowledge about driving except maybe on nice wide US highways without much traffic.
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Oh, I've driven more British country lanes than you can possibly imagine. I used to regularly go over the Snake Pass in the wee hours, even in winter, snow and all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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I doubt that somehow or you wouldn't ask such a dumb question. You seem to think driving starts and ends at vehicle control whereas the majority of it involves reading the road up ahead a long way and having a theory of mind , not just for other drivers but also the kid playing with a ball on the pavement or the horse bucking a bit or the HGV indicating left but moving his vehicle to the right so he can negotiate the corner. Then there's things such as navigating single track lanes and what to do if a car c
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I doubt that somehow or you wouldn't ask such a dumb question.
Well... you're wrong. (shrug)
You seem to think driving starts and ends at vehicle control
It certainly starts there.
Where does it end? That's a moving target. Right now the software updates are arriving nightly.
In the long term I'm 100% sure a machine will do better than you with your limited vision, limited reaction times and limited control. The Snake pass is littered with people who thought otherwise.
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Reaction time is 1% of driving a car unless you're a racing driver and if you really could drive you'd know that but I suspect you're just some kid who's still ferried to and from school by mum.
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Meh. Snake Pass is an incredibly dull drive. Wide lanes, plenty of space and oncoming traffic that means you're permanently stuck behind some cunt in a shitty Ford that thinks 32mph is dangerously fast.
Re:"People who enjoy driving" (Score:5, Interesting)
Yup, pretty much this.
Personally, I need a car to get from A to B. If there was a decent public transport option, I'd take it. There isn't, so I need a car. It's an utility for me, a device I have to use to accomplish a goal. For me, this thing driving itself is a good idea.
There are people, though, who enjoy driving. They like sitting in a car and drive. From what I can gather, they also like the roar of the engine and the vibrations that a high horsepower engine gives to the machine they're sitting in. They want to shift manually, they want to steer manually, they like that feeling of total control over a really powerful machine.
And I guess everyone here who enjoys toying with ARMs and programs them in assembler can empathize. Total control over a really cool, powerful machine.
They, like us, don't care about getting from A to B with this. It's about the ride.
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There are people, though, who enjoy driving. They like sitting in a car and drive. From what I can gather, they also like the roar of the engine and the vibrations that a high horsepower engine gives to the machine they're sitting in. They want to shift manually, they want to steer manually, they like that feeling of total control over a really powerful machine.
Sure, on a twisty country lane, but I don't know anybody who enjoys driving long distances on interstates.
Wouldn't you rather look out the window or something?
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On an interstate? What's there to see?
I don't know about highways in your country, but in mine they ain't exactly sightseeing spectacles.
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On an interstate? What's there to see?
Depends what you're looking for. There are often interesting vehicles (whimsically decorated vehicles, ridiculously dilapidated vehicles, vehicles with interesting cargo, like military equipment or fairground rides). There are sights like standing mist over a field of corn with the dawn shining through it. There are bridges over rivers, or swamps, or the sea. There are animals and birds. There are humorous billboards. There are signs for amusingly named towns. There are oddly shaped buildings designed to lu
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It depends greatly on the highway in question.
Interstate 70 through Kansas? Yeah, there's nothing to see. At all. Same with Interstate 80 through Nebraska and Iowa.
Interstate 70 through central Colorado? Unbelievably gorgeous. Interstate 84 through the Columbia Gorge? One of the most beautiful stretches of road I've ever driven on. Highway 101 up the entire west coast of the US? Also incredibly spectacular after you get out of Los Angeles.
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Highway 101 doesn't go up the coast until Humboldt; south of which, CA Highway 1 is there. 101 has some pretty parts, but it also has some of the shittiest road surface in California (notably around Ukiah, Santa Rosa etc.) and I prefer to get through that shit as rapidly as possible. Up where it actually is on the coast in CA right now there are road shutdowns, for example 3 hour delays are now common near Crescent City.
Might be pretty in Oregon though
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I don't know anybody who enjoys driving long distances on interstates.
Do you know me? I enjoy it. I enjoy the feeling of going around gentle curves and up/down hills (I live in SW IN and drive through TN, KY, OH quite a bit). I enjoy listening to music or old radio plays while feeling the steering wheel vibrate in my hands. I enjoy hearing the turbo spool up (I drive an older New Beetle turbo 5spd) as I pass someone. I enjoy deciding whether to stop at a rest stop or at a Waffle House. I enjoy watching the odometer tick upwards. I enjoy upshifting as I get back on the highway
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Do you know me? I enjoy it. I enjoy the feeling of going around gentle curves and up/down hills (I live in SW IN and drive through TN, KY, OH quite a bit). I enjoy listening to music or old radio plays while feeling the steering wheel vibrate in my hands. I enjoy hearing the turbo spool up (I drive an older New Beetle turbo 5spd) as I pass someone. I enjoy deciding whether to stop at a rest stop or at a Waffle House. I enjoy watching the odometer tick upwards. I enjoy upshifting as I get back on the highway after a rest stop. I enjoy munching on a Slim Jim and drinking crappy gas station coffee as I drive.
There's not a very high percentage of actual "driving" in that list, it's more about "traveling".
(eg. "upshifting as I get back on the highway after a rest stop" - how many seconds is that out of the total?)
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There's not a very high percentage of actual "driving" in that list, it's more about "traveling".
I'm struggling to find what part of operating a vehicle in their example doesn't constitute "driving"...I too enjoy operating a vehicle on longer interstate trips. I understand you may not, so if I may make a suggestion, take your own advice and resume simply staring out a window.
Re: "People who enjoy driving" (Score:2)
I'm getting ready for a nice drive up WA Hwy 9. Not just because I like the scenery. But that's all the faster my truck will go.
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I completely disagree. I love driving, in lovable driving circumstances. I love a good empty twisty road. I love autocross so much I rebuilt a vehicle specifically for doing it, including removing the engine and transmission for overhauling them, replacing the steering rack, and replacing the entire suspension; I'm not what you would call an "average driver".
That being said, I love driving my Model 3, and I love being able to turn on autopilot in order to supervise boring highway miles. It accelerates l
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... fundamentally aren't interested in autonomous electric vehicles on any level.
Yes, in fact I am, and you don't get to speak for me.
I enjoy driving when the driving is enjoyable. I have known since I was ~13 from my experience with RC cars that EVs are much more enjoyable to drive than ICEVs, much more reliable, much quieter, etc etc. All of this is still true.
What else is true is that you often wind up in traffic, where a self-driving car could handle the boring parts of driving. Or stuck behind a dumbshit, I can't count the number of times I got stuck behind a superbike while drivi
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EVs are much more enjoyable to drive than ICEVs, much more reliable, much quieter, etc etc. All of this is still true.
As I said to the other poster, I expected some of this. What you're talking about here is a minority viewpoint. Sure, I'm not telling you, nor can I tell you, that that it's an invalid viewpoint, but similarly you don't get to tell petrolheads that they're "wrong" either. And there are a lot more people who appreciate the as-manual-as-possible driving experience vs. a largely software-controlled driving experience, and there is no such thing as a highly manual driving experience in any EV. The proportions o
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As I said to the other poster, I expected some of this. What you're talking about here is a minority viewpoint.
[citation needed]
but similarly you don't get to tell petrolheads that they're "wrong" either
Put up some evidence to support your position, then.
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I knew a guy once that said the reason why he drove his car from home to work was because he enjoyed driving. First of all, it was just a Camry (or similar), but also, he literally lived a 5-10 minute walk from work. He really just had to cross the street. It took longer to drive because of the way the neighbourhood was set up.
So he got to drive 10 minutes, slowly, through uninteresting residential areas and traffic lights, briefly bring the car up to 60km/hr to merge onto the throughfare that led to the pa
In other news... (Score:2)
... car designers became very bored during lockdown to the point of cabin fever and came up with some really crazy ideas to laugh at.
Referencing another story here (Score:2)
Is shape-changing the 3D-TV of cars?
Great (Score:2)
The concept car's long hood extends forward and the steering wheel and pedals fold away.
More motorized things on the vehicle that can break.
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More than that, it's more motorized things on an Audi that can break, in addition to all the regular stuff on an Audi that will break.
I'll wait for Honda or Toyota to do something like this properly and reliably.
Just the easy parts? (Score:2)
They implemented the easy parts - the mechanics and marketing.
Did they also demonstrate the self-driving that is part of the concept? With the controls tucked in and the passengers resting under the matching blankets mentioned?
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Of course not. Concept cars are all about incomplete ideas and smoke-and-mirrors marketing. I doubt the thing even had a functional drive motor in it.
Why is this trifle news? (Score:1)
More space filler bullshit is what it is.
Nothing new (Score:1)
Retractable steering wheel? They had that for decades! [youtube.com]
And at car end of life... (Score:2)
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The dash has a red button saying 'do not push'.
Retracting conundrum (Score:1)
The design team spent ages trying to work out how to implement retractable indicator stalks.
Eventually, someone reminded them that this was Audi, so they don't exist anyway.
No Self Driving (Score:2)
This is how the _Empire Strikes Back_ (Score:3)
The response from legacy, for the price of 5 or 6 Model S plaid, the front end of the car will stretch by 10 inches.
Audi is lightyears behind BMW and Mercedes. (Score:2)
Shape shifting car and self driving? (Score:2)
So... (Score:2)
(Looks at Photo) Nevermind.
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big and heavy (Score:2)
Audi is showing us how to make a car big and heavy, reducing efficiency as much as possible.
From the article . . . (Score:1)