Audi's new EV is a luxury SUV with augmented reality that doubles as a pickup - CNBC

Audi's caller conception conveyance is an all-electric luxury SUV that uses augmented world glasses and tin treble arsenic a tiny pickup truck, signaling imaginable aboriginal technologies for the Volkswagen luxury brand.

The rear solid of the "Activesphere" conveyance tin descent forward, opening the flatbed trunk of the SUV and creating an open-air abstraction for hauling objects. Audi's calling the modular unfastened cargo furniture an "active back," but consumers shouldn't needfully expect to spot a accumulation conveyance with the unsocial diagnostic anytime soon.

"It's a wholly caller scope and a caller anticipation it affords to us," Philipp Gündert, Audi marque strategy, said during a media briefing. "We astatine Audi are good known for trying retired caller things with cars ... there's besides an Audi contented to say, 'Never accidental never.' Although there's nary factual plans, yet."

Automakers routinely usage conception vehicles to gauge lawsuit involvement oregon amusement the aboriginal absorption of a conveyance oregon brand. The vehicles are not meant to beryllium sold to consumers.

The augmented world glasses are utilized to presumption the gauges, controls and different elements that would typically beryllium displayed via screens. With nary screens, the dashboard is cleanable and unobstructed, allowing occupants to absorption connected their outer surroundings oregon plan elements of the vehicle.  

Audi describes the controls arsenic an "invisible" oregon "digital" furniture of conveyance controls and information. The displays, which it's calling "Audi Dimensions," alteration based connected wherever the operator is looking arsenic good arsenic their expected needs. Everything tin beryllium controlled with manus gestures.

The glasses could hypothetically beryllium utilized wrong the conveyance arsenic good arsenic during activities specified arsenic play oregon hiking for distances, navigation and different things. Augmented world glasses furniture things implicit existent things arsenic opposed to virtual reality, which is an all-encompassing abstracted environment.

Like the "active back," the augmented world glasses are a conception of what could beryllium successful aboriginal vehicles but aren't needfully meant for accumulation vehicles anytime soon.

Audi emphasized that it has nary plans to marque its ain augmented world glasses. Instead, it would enactment with partners to integrate the exertion with the vehicle.

The conveyance features a retractable steering instrumentality for quality driving that would stow distant erstwhile the conveyance is successful self-driving mode, a exertion included successful each of Audi's "sphere" conception vehicles.

The word "sphere" is meant to symbolize the interior abstraction of the vehicles for drivers and passengers, according to Audi, fundamentally turning vehicles into different idiosyncratic acquisition oregon surviving space. This is its 4th "sphere" conception since 2021.

Previous vehicles were the Skysphere roadster successful 2021, followed by the Grandsphere sedan and Urbansphere successful April 2022. All the vehicles stock futuristic plan elements and are each modular.

Gündert said determination are elements of each the conception vehicles that volition marque it into accumulation but signaled things specified arsenic lights and design. He said the performance Grandsphere is the 1 closest to a accumulation vehicle.