2011 Audi A8 gets factory-installed wireless hotspot option
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 25th 2010 2:42AM
posted May 25th 2010 2:42AM
We'd heard that the 2011 Audi A8 would be getting a UMTS modem in mid-2010 to help with things like Google Earth, and it looks like Audi has now delivered that and more -- it's just announced that the car is the first anywhere to be available with a factory-installed WLAN hotspot option. That will apparently let you either drop your SIM card into the car's on-board system or pair your phone with it via Bluetooth, and then share wireless internet access with up to eight WiFi-enabled devices at speeds up to 7.2 mbps -- assuming you actually need any more devices than the two dozen or so that are already built into the car, that is.
Audi A8 – taking the fast lane onto the World Wide Web
- First factory-installed WLAN hotspot in a car
- Wireless access for iPads, laptops and netbooks
- Secure encryption, stable connection
The new Audi A8 is the first car in the world to offer an optional factory-installed WLAN hotspot for wireless Internet access. Passengers in the front and rear can simultaneously access the Internet through the car's integrated WLAN module and via UMTS, using up to eight terminal devices such as laptops, Apple iPads or netbooks.
Wireless surfing, accessing information, data and e-mails from company networks, and downloading the latest apps for the iPad – passengers in the front and rear can conveniently and securely use all of these features while traveling in the Audi A8, just as if they were in their own office. WPA2 encryption provides the necessary security for the transfer of data.
Using the WLAN hotspot is remarkably simple. To activate Internet access with speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s, the driver merely needs to insert a data-capable SIM card into the Bluetooth online car phone. Alternatively, an Internet connection can be established via Bluetooth by using a compatible mobile phone with a SIM Access Profile. Any existing mobile phone contract can be used for this – often coupled with a flat-rate data plan.
Communication with the Internet takes place through the rooftop antenna of the Audi A8 via the car's own UMTS module. This enables utmost connection stability with outstanding reception quality.
- First factory-installed WLAN hotspot in a car
- Wireless access for iPads, laptops and netbooks
- Secure encryption, stable connection
The new Audi A8 is the first car in the world to offer an optional factory-installed WLAN hotspot for wireless Internet access. Passengers in the front and rear can simultaneously access the Internet through the car's integrated WLAN module and via UMTS, using up to eight terminal devices such as laptops, Apple iPads or netbooks.
Wireless surfing, accessing information, data and e-mails from company networks, and downloading the latest apps for the iPad – passengers in the front and rear can conveniently and securely use all of these features while traveling in the Audi A8, just as if they were in their own office. WPA2 encryption provides the necessary security for the transfer of data.
Using the WLAN hotspot is remarkably simple. To activate Internet access with speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s, the driver merely needs to insert a data-capable SIM card into the Bluetooth online car phone. Alternatively, an Internet connection can be established via Bluetooth by using a compatible mobile phone with a SIM Access Profile. Any existing mobile phone contract can be used for this – often coupled with a flat-rate data plan.
Communication with the Internet takes place through the rooftop antenna of the Audi A8 via the car's own UMTS module. This enables utmost connection stability with outstanding reception quality.
Yay more distractions! It's not like driving ever killed anyone.
@squirrelnut1416
Get an Android phone running Froyo. Not a big deal.
@squirrelnut1416
This is more of the type you are driven in, not the type you drive with distractions. This is designed so you have a chauffeur and get things done while someone drives you to your destination.
@squirrelnut1416
what will those people come up with next? A balloon that transports people???
@squirrelnut1416 With all the sensors this car has it be hard to get in an accident that's ur fault. My friend has an 2009 A8 and he almost rear ended another car but the breaking assist saved him
@squirrelnut1416 : So tv's in the headrest was ghetto when my people do it, but when Audi does it its opulence? GTFO!
one day I'll be rich and own an Audi like this :)
@djsiek
No you won't ;)
This is why I'm an Audi fanboy.
You think if I pay for the wifi option they will give me a subsidy rate on the Audi?
Yes! THIS is innovation!
UMTS? Sounds like a drum-roll following a bad joke!
UMTS!!!!
So that now i can use my iPad that i don't need while i'm driving down the road... or my iPod touch.... or my iPhone over a decent network... or my Zune HD... or my laptop... or all of it at once...
While driving. Is there ANY protection to keep the driver from using this? Like, say, if there's only one person seated in the car, disable the WLAN?
@GadgetTamer
Why does it need protection? There's already plenty of choice for the driver wishing to take their attention off the road. Man has had eye lids since the Benz Velo, and nobody protected us from those.
What health and safety, lawsuit orientated world we have. What happened to common sense?
@JBaker +1. I'll support all of these new anti-distraction regulations when all of the following are banned from cars:
Food
Cupholders
Radios/iPods/CDs/GPS
Electric Shavers
Children
Video
Makeup
Cigarettes
(I could go on).
Alternatively, we could just isolate the driver in a soundproof chamber that prevented visual contact with the rest of the interior. I guess we'd need some video feed replacement for the rear-view and right door mirrors...
@Releaux i support the banishment of children
that car interior is more luxurious than my living room D:
Cadillac has had a wifi hotspot option for over a year.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10199833-48.html
@Theturk123: It's splitting hairs but technically, the Cadillac option is dealer-installed, not factory installed. Basically, a dealer-installed option is an aftermarket product which is covered by warranty (or rather, doesn't kill your warranty), whereas a factory-installed option is presumably integrated into the car itself.
@tonicboy Good Catch
Audi > Mercedes & BMW
Mercedes > EVO 4G
There's something fishy about putting the iPad there...
I bet this costs 4x the price of a mifi.
@Marmite Turkey
or a MilFi
@Marmite Turkey
If you can afford a loaded A8 then it doesn't really matter.
@Waltah While that's true, most people don't get to the stage of being able to afford a loaded A8 by not caring about value.
The wife kicked you out the house? Not a problem...
Wont the LCD screens on the back of the headrest get smashed by the foreheads of the rear passengers in an accident?
Just wondering.
@(Unverified)
There's an airbag for that...
@JetBear There's an app for that! (since audi is integrating apps into cars now......)
Good on Audi for making this a factory option but its hardly rocket science. I have a 230v AC Inveter in my Corolla and a 3G wifi router at home which I use with a USB modem. It's a simple matter to plus this into the inverter and have my own portable wifi hotspot, I'm just not that big a nerd...
I've had all this equipment since 2008.
@carkitter buy mifi/overdrive plug into cigarette lighter, stick in glove box, i guarantee its a cheaper option
The first? Wasn't there some sort of pickup truck that has this option available? Can't recall if it was Ford or Dodge or what.
@shakespeerMT
Just looked it up. It was an option with Dodge in 2009.
I think it's GMC that already offers this feature or Dodge. The Audi certainly isn't the first.
Nice ride, but poor choice/placement of LCD's...
@World4GClear And once again, that's not a "factory-installed" option, which is what this story is about.
Time for the EU to tackle the roaming abuses so that we can use Google Earth/Navigation in our neighboring countries once this becomes mainstream!
Forget the WiFi just give an RS8 ;-)