MmiTouch
Latest
Audi A3 with MMI Touch gesture-based entertainment system hands-on (video)
CeBIT isn't an auto show in the traditional sense, but we are in Germany after all, so we weren't terribly surprised to see Audi roll up with a brand new car. The latest A3 made its worldwide debut today, bringing with it that wheel-based menu navigation interface we saw in its prototype phase. The touchpad sits atop the jog-wheel and shrinks things down considerably compared to the original version found in the 7-series. To keep things nice and safe, Audi devised a system that recognizes letters you draw with your finger, enabling drivers keep their eyes on the road while selecting music, making calls or setting a destination in the GPS. Also, as is apparently the norm these days, there's Facebook and Twitter integration -- the car can even read updates as you drive. If you know, you can't wait until you're parked.As you might have gathered, the A3 is a connected vehicle, with a SIM slot or Bluetooth connection providing the car's link to the outside world. It offers another curious addition, too: a "Phone Box" signal boosting system. Details are sparse, but we do know there's an external antenna that relays the signal back to the handset. That particular feature is compatible with any phone you care to toss inside, and requires a wired connection only for charging (the box itself is amplified, so anything that sits within the enclosure will reap those boosting benefits). We managed to get the first hands-on demo with the car, and you can see all those new toys in the video and galleries below.
Next-generation Audi MMI Touch dashboard with NVIDIA Tegra-power hands-on (video)
Wishing you could get a little closer to that next-generation Audi MMI Touch interface we saw yesterday, the one we're expecting to debut on the A3? Well, you can't -- unless you're at CES, anyway, in which case you can find it chilling out in the NVIDIA booth waiting for you to go play with it. We did, getting a feel for all the lovely things that Audi is doing with the power of its Tegra chipset. It has decidedly limited functionality at this point, but it's certainly enough to give you an idea of what dashboards in 2012 are going to look like, which is way closer to Gran Turismo 5 than we'd have imagined, like a fly-around tire pressure display with a real-time 3D view of the car. Check out the video below and see for yourself. %Gallery-113310%
Audi's next-generation, Tegra-Powered MMI Touch is coming to Audi A3 first
When it comes to the proliferation of fancy infotainment systems into cars there are two schools of thought. Some, like Ford, believe that these systems should start at the lower range cars and spread across the brand. Other marques, typically higher-end ones, go the other way 'round, and Audi is definitely guilty, launching its MMI on the higher-end sedans and SUVs, like the A8 and Q7. That's changing with the next version of MMI Touch, starting on the (relatively) attainable A3. NVIDIA was quite proud to show off the system, with Tegra providing the power behind the scenes as we saw last year. That means lovely rendering of Google Earth, in 3D no less, and of course responsive performance. According to Autoblog it looks like the system's capacitive touchpad is being integrated into the scroll wheel, which should offer a solid usability improvement. No word on when we'll get to experience it, though, but we wouldn't be surprised to learn more next week in Detroit.
Audi A8 MMI adds handwriting recognition to list of 2011 features
The A8's Multi Media Interface (a fancy name for a nav unit with media player attached) is already a pretty sophisticated piece of tech, but Audi has opted against resting on those laurels and has pushed out a new feature for the luxury saloon's next iteration. The 2011 A8 (available in Spring 2010 -- crazy, we know) will benefit from the same handwriting recognition as promised for the next-gen R8, wherein the user is able to scribble his destination all John Hancock-like and then use the touchscreen to complete his instructions. With Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean character support, this could be a particular boon for gadget lovers of a more Eastern persuasion. And just in case you're fretting that the rest of your gear won't get as much love, there are further plans afoot for connecting the car via UMTS and distributing WiFi goodness to the devices inside it. The only thing this is missing is a Snoop Dogg voiceover for the ultimate in convergence tech. Video after the break.
