The PPE platform can accommodate rear-wheel steering at up to 5deg for tighter turn-in, as well as an electronic locking rear differential for improved torque-vectoring behaviour, and these features are expected to be carried over to the new A8.
But while its performance stats and dynamic credentials will be headline attributes, the new A8 will be more technically remarkable for the advances it makes in self-driving ability.
The Grandsphere was designed around its theoretical capacity for level-four autonomy, with a retracting steering wheel and pedals, automatically adjusting seats with individual sound systems and a raft of gesture-controlled functions. The A8 will be more conventional inside, but the more recent Activesphere concept gives clues to Audi’s plans to usher in a step change in autonomous driving with its next-gen EVs.
“We don’t want to overload you” with information, Audi user experience boss Sid Odedra told Autocar recently, suggesting the Sphere concepts’ shunning of physical controls and traditional screens in favour of sensor controls and holographic projections is not far from what will become reality.
“We’re not giving you less, actually,” Odedra said of Audi’s new minimalist interior treatment. “We’re giving you more. With less, we’re going to give you more of a digital experience with less physical architecture.”
