Skip to main content

Audi Urban Intelligent Assist research programme launched

A new research initiative launched by Audi, its electronics research laboratory in Silicon Valley and four top US universities aims to develop technologies focused on easing the congestion, dangers and inconveniences that often confront drivers in the world's biggest cities. The new three-year Audi Urban Intelligent Assist research initiative aims to take connected car, driver assistance and infrastructure electronics to the next level of providing detailed information so motorists have a better sense of th
May 21, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
RSSA new research initiative launched by 2125 Audi, its electronics research laboratory in Silicon Valley and four top US universities aims to develop technologies focused on easing the congestion, dangers and inconveniences that often confront drivers in the world's biggest cities.

The new three-year Audi Urban Intelligent Assist research initiative aims to take connected car, driver assistance and infrastructure electronics to the next level of providing detailed information so motorists have a better sense of the driving conditions surrounding them.

With this initiative, the universities, ERL and Audi want to cover the complete process of navigating in a mega city. The vision is to develop Audi models that will recognise individual motorists behind the wheel, know preferred destinations, routes the motorists have most commonly travelled and the time needed to reach appointments. The car will be able to help the drivers detect and avoid dangerous situations better, too.

The universities involved in the Audi Urban Intelligent Assist initiative are the 5645 University of Southern California, 2176 University of California, Berkeley, 5646 University of California, San Diego and the 5647 University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

"Technologies that help motorists become more aware and efficient are a crucial step toward solving some of the biggest transportation challenges on the horizon across the world," said Dr. Burkhard Huhnke, executive director of the Audi Electronics Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. "Audi is confident that this initiative will provide an important insight on the future of urban transportation and produce innovative concepts that promote efficient, pleasant, and safer mobility."

The Audi vehicles envisioned in this new project would work with a city's connected infrastructure to, for example, reserve a parking spot near the driver's desired destination and optimise the trip according to what is happening throughout the city. The future connected Audi will basically take care of all the little things that make driving in the city tedious and dangerous, so that motorists can enjoy the drive and get to where they want to go efficiently, safely, and comfortably.

"Driving in an urban environment is becoming more challenging due to increasing traffic congestion that affects mobility, safety and driver comfort," said Professor Petros Ioannou, University of Southern California Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies.  "New technologies and ideas can be exploited and developed that would allow the vehicle to interact with the urban environment in a much more efficient way by providing improved mobility, driving comfort and safety."

"We have always believed in the need for a holistic approach to driver assistance systems, and working with our partners at USC, UC Berkeley and Audi, we are confident that we can pool our expertise for the benefit and safety of urban drivers not just in California, but worldwide," said Mohan Trivedi, director of UCSD's Laboratory for Intelligent and Safe Automobiles (LISA). "Safety on urban roads will require a very deep understanding of the driver and his or her environment. With the proliferation of consumer electronics devices in and on-board vehicles, a major challenge in front of us is to ensure that assistance systems really help rather than distract or irritate the driver."

Related Content

  • Driverless vehicles will cause changes in society
    May 31, 2013
    Paul Godsmark gives his views on what the advent of autonomous vehicles would mean for the wider society. Further to your article ‘Driver not required…’ in the Jan/Feb edition of ITS International which gave some great background to autonomous road vehicle (ARVs), I feel that the bigger picture is needed to aid understanding. There is a ‘technology freight train’ heading our way that is going to transform our roadways but we don’t seem to be aware of it and, therefore, are in no hurry to react.
  • Covid-19 cleared the air: ITS can keep it clean
    July 31, 2020
    Covid-19 has created cleaner air: ITS can help keep it that way – but it’s not going to be straightforward, as Graham Anderson discovers
  • California’s green transport solution – the electric cargo bicycle
    August 29, 2013
    An electric cargo bike, the 2x4 (two by four), developed by California-based NTS Works, can carry large objects into tight urban centres and other locations where deliveries by full-size vehicles can be difficult and costly, according to the company. The lightweight, compact 2x4 is only slightly larger than a conventional cycle and has a flat cargo bed in front that can hold up to eight grocery bags. An electric motor assists the rider when pedalling and is adjustable via a handlebar mounted display so
  • Volvo and KPMG find buses are key to urban air quality
    September 13, 2016
    Buses can play a key role in the battle to improve air quality in towns and cities as David Crawford discovers. A city with a population of half a million would gain about US$12.3 million in annualised societal savings if all its buses ran on electricity instead of diesel. This is the conclusion of a wide-ranging analysis carried out by Swedish bus manufacturer Volvo Group and global business consultants KPMG.