Audi’s got their hands deep into exploring autonomous cars, slowly introducing more advanced systems into their production cars while testing to perfect yet more intelligent and capable versions to come. But it’s hard to get normal people particularly hyped up over software, which is essentially what the fully autonomous car equation boils down to. That, and sheer computing power, really.
Enter the Aicon, presumably a portmanteau of ‘Autonomous’ and ‘Icon’, a five-door 2+2 concept car that serves for the moment as literal vehicle of an possible autonomous revolution. Its sporty proportions, aggressive styling cues belie its true intention, to conveniently transport its passengers in comfort without any human intervention whatsoever.
Despite looking like it might look like an interesting car to get behind a wheel of, there isn’t any way to do that as the cabin is void of any of the conventional control mechanisms we’re used to operating: no pedals, no gear lever, no steering wheel. It’s basically your very own, very stylish bus with an invisible driver that never tires or complains - just get in, arrive, and get out.
The world of tomorrow may indeed be filled with folks who just cannot be bothered with the antiquated, wasteful practice of driving, and Audi wants to be at the forefront of that future in which we’re still very mindful about what our cars say about ourselves, even if we don’t (and physically can’t) drive them.
Ironic, then, that we’re not given anything beyond sketches of the Aicon’s interior at this point. But in spite of it being labelled a 2+2, which is typically attached to coupes and convertibles to mean it technically having but they being mostly unusable for adults, the Aicon’s cabin - just like its exterior - is huge. With a body that measures almost 5.45 metres in length and 2.1 metres in width, and 1.5m tall, it boasts a considerably larger footprint than, say, the all-new Audi A8. Given its body style, nearly all of that space above the floor is used for the cabin.
The rear passengers receive a two-seat bench integrated into the rear panel while the duo up front receive individual thrones that can slide up to 500mm back and forth and swivelled by to up to 15-degrees. With all this space dedicated to being a lounge on wheels, there’s still quite a bit of room left over for cargo, which can be split between the front and rear compartments and that add up to 660-litres.
Somewhat curiously, Audi, has decided to emphasise the Aicon as being a battery-powered zero emissions vehicle, using the present-day solution of stuffing as many battery cells as possible into the lower portion of the car, drawing from that to not only travel as far as possible before requiring a recharge but to also power the slew of communications tech built into the car. However, and crucially, the Alcon is projected to use ‘solid body’ batteries, a nascent technology in 2017 but could potentially yield a much more energy dense solution over lithium-ion cells, the next step in Audi’s e-tron evolution, perhaps.
Perhaps, in their imagined future, mankind would have advanced power cells to the point of it being able to hold magnitudes more energy along with being able to charge very quickly and not suffer from charge deterioration over time. Thusly, the Ingolstadt automaker projects the Aicon will be able to travel between 700km to 800km between trips to the plug.
Each wheel receives its own electric motor, enabling a new form of quattro all-wheel drive, and are joined by front or rear axles that allow for each wheel to be steered independently for maximum manoeuvrability. The quad drive layout yields a respectable system output of 260kW and 550Nm.
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