Smartphone-standard processors and navigation are being used to display
navigation and virtual gauges with ambitious new in-car software
The design of Audi's celebrated TT took just four weeks to create in 1995. Now the German automotive giant has spent five years updating it for the smartphone generation.
Audi’s TT sports car started life as concept developed in the mid 1990s – a sporty coupe built atop Audi’s common platform underpinning the Golf among others.
An update to the TT was released in 2006, which brought the coupe into line with Audi's range at the time, with a slightly sharper look and better performance.
Now, after a five-year design process that included three years of painstaking discussion and workshops agonising over every little detail, a new TT is ready.
On the outside it is sharper, more taught, aggressive and masculine looking; “an intentional shift to position the TT as a legitimate sports car behind the R8 in the Audi line up,” according to Dany Garand, lead exterior designer of the TT.
We certainly didn’t get the design you see today in one shot; it was
the process of many designs and refinements,” Garand told the Guardian.
But while the exterior design is what most people will see of the new third-generation TT, the most radical change is on the inside.
We said, OK – you’ve got big tube mode [the traditional dials and
gauges] – but now we’ve gone digital we can make smaller dials, provide
more information and make the experience far better,” said Maximilian
Kandlar, interior designer of the 2014 TT.
The virtual cockpit puts everything in front of the driver. Two separate systems – one isolated “safety” system, which displays things like the rev counter and speedo, and the internet-connected infotainment system – are fused onto one screen.
The standard view displays the familiar dials and gauges found in most cars, but the central fuel monitor can be swapped out for a list of music tracks, a list of contacts or calls from a Bluetooth phone, or a mini satellite-view map pulled live from Google Earth.
Based on QNX, the Unix-like operating system used by most car manufacturers, the software is powered by two of the fastest automotive-grade Nvidia Tegra 3 processors - similar to those found in new smartphones and tablets – which enable smoother and higher quality graphics.
“Our vision was to create a fast and direct interaction, but not overwhelm the driver with information or hundreds of buttons,” said Dr. Andre Ebner, head of Audi’s development of onboard systems.
Audi has also built in a universal search function, operating a bit like Google search on an Android device or Apple’s spotlight. Most features can be accessed from just three characters written out on the touch-sensitive pad with a finger or typed using the rotary virtual keyboard, including music tracks, places, contacts and radio stations.
“You can just say ‘I have to talk to Peter, call Peter’ and then just say ‘yes’ when the system asks if you want to phone Peter,” said Ebner. “There’s no more fixed and clunky dialogues – just talk to it like you would a human.”
Audi has launched the TT and its new virtual cockpit just ahead of
the in-car information system evolution that is about to be unleashed on
new cars, powered by the likes of Apple’s CarPlay, Google’s Open Automotive Alliance and the Connected Car Consortium’s MirrorLink.
Most cars fitted with this new kind of system will be available from 2015, with only a handful like Volvo and Ferrari making it to market this year.
• Battle for the car: will Google, Apple or Microsoft dominate the future of the car?
 |
| Audi's new 2014 TT features a whole range of technology under the hood, including a brand new virtual cockpit |
The design of Audi's celebrated TT took just four weeks to create in 1995. Now the German automotive giant has spent five years updating it for the smartphone generation.
Audi’s TT sports car started life as concept developed in the mid 1990s – a sporty coupe built atop Audi’s common platform underpinning the Golf among others.
An update to the TT was released in 2006, which brought the coupe into line with Audi's range at the time, with a slightly sharper look and better performance.
Now, after a five-year design process that included three years of painstaking discussion and workshops agonising over every little detail, a new TT is ready.
On the outside it is sharper, more taught, aggressive and masculine looking; “an intentional shift to position the TT as a legitimate sports car behind the R8 in the Audi line up,” according to Dany Garand, lead exterior designer of the TT.
 |
| A sketch illustrating the hard lines of the new TT and evolution from the cicular, rounded shape of the original sports coupe. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian |
But while the exterior design is what most people will see of the new third-generation TT, the most radical change is on the inside.
A virtual cockpit for the smartphone generation
Audi has dragged the car out of the analogue world, doing away with the traditional line up of fixed needles, gauges and dials that sit in front of the driver. Instead information like the car’s speed, fuel level and revolutions per minute is beamed from a high resolution LCD screen to create a customisable virtual cockpit. |
| Audi's virtual cockpit puts all the information traditionally placed on centre console screens directly in front of the driver. Photograph: Audi |
The virtual cockpit puts everything in front of the driver. Two separate systems – one isolated “safety” system, which displays things like the rev counter and speedo, and the internet-connected infotainment system – are fused onto one screen.
The standard view displays the familiar dials and gauges found in most cars, but the central fuel monitor can be swapped out for a list of music tracks, a list of contacts or calls from a Bluetooth phone, or a mini satellite-view map pulled live from Google Earth.
 |
| Full-screen Google Earth displayed in high resolution across the new 12.3in screen. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian |
12.3in of Google Earth right in front of the driver
The speedo and rev counter can be shrunk to small dials in the bottom left and right of the screen, which all. Maps or the music player can take over the 12.3in screen putting the visual right in the driver's eyeline, including the track, artist or album illustrated with album artwork. |
| Selecting the right music for the moment. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian |
Based on QNX, the Unix-like operating system used by most car manufacturers, the software is powered by two of the fastest automotive-grade Nvidia Tegra 3 processors - similar to those found in new smartphones and tablets – which enable smoother and higher quality graphics.
'Don't overwhelm the driver with hundreds of buttons'
The complex four-button “quattro logic” used by Audi for years has been replaced by a two-button, left and right click interface with compressed menus, making it faster to navigate between functions.“Our vision was to create a fast and direct interaction, but not overwhelm the driver with information or hundreds of buttons,” said Dr. Andre Ebner, head of Audi’s development of onboard systems.
 |
| Universal search makes getting to the features, functions and fun faster. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian |
Audi has also built in a universal search function, operating a bit like Google search on an Android device or Apple’s spotlight. Most features can be accessed from just three characters written out on the touch-sensitive pad with a finger or typed using the rotary virtual keyboard, including music tracks, places, contacts and radio stations.
‘I have to talk to Peter, call Peter’
Drivers can also control almost any function using natural language voice control, much like Apple’s personal digital assistant Siri or Google’s voice search.“You can just say ‘I have to talk to Peter, call Peter’ and then just say ‘yes’ when the system asks if you want to phone Peter,” said Ebner. “There’s no more fixed and clunky dialogues – just talk to it like you would a human.”
 |
| Car settings from performance characteristics to speed warnings are all accessed directly through the screen. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian |
Most cars fitted with this new kind of system will be available from 2015, with only a handful like Volvo and Ferrari making it to market this year.
• Battle for the car: will Google, Apple or Microsoft dominate the future of the car?
0 comments:
Post a Comment