Audi’s design team explores how autonomous driving might alter the luxury car experience
- BySheetal Sidhu | September 4, 2021
Audi’s design team is in the midst of what might be called its “sphere trilogy,” exploring how autonomous driving might alter the luxury car experience. At Monterey Car Week in August, the team showed off the skysphere, which morphs from stubby sports car to autonomous cruiser, extending its wheelbase as the driver’s controls fold out of sight. Soon, we’ll see the (presumably compact) urbansphere, but today, it’s the grandsphere sedan’s turn. And no, none of the names are capitalized. The grandsphere doesn’t need morphing bodywork; the vehicle is long enough that there’s always more than enough room inside, regardless of who’s driving.
At first glance, the car looks like a grand tourer, but there’s a visual trick at work. The base of the windshield is way out ahead of the A-pillar, curving out almost as far as the front axle. The grandsphere might be the first concept I’ve seen that manages the trick of being a four-seat sedan and a 2+2 at the same time. The car is more than 17 feet long (5.3 m to be exact), and you can see from the open-door shots that the rear looks roomy. But that two-person bench seat also looks a little spartan. Instead, all the attention is concentrated on the front seats. Audi says that autonomous driving allows the car to subvert the usual order when it comes to big luxury sedans, where the back seat is the place to stretch out and relax.
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