Future Audis Will Allow Driver to Take More CO2 Efficient Routes

Audi Engineers at the company's California Electronic Research Labs believe that the next step in reducing carbon dioxide emissions will come through "connected" vehicles.

Ralph Weyler, Member of the Board for Sales and Marketing, Audi AG, announced today at the Los Angeles Auto Show that Audi is working with three California universities on six multi-year research projects. The efforts are aimed at reducing CO2 emissions through more intelligent interactions between driver and car, cars on the road, and in the collection and distribution of real-time traffic patterns. The name of the project is "Clean Air, a Viable Planet." Audi researchers are working with the University of California at Berkeley, the University of California at Riverside, and Stanford University.

Daniel Rosario, Audi manager of Connected Vehicles, in explaining the research said that the shortest route to a destination is not necessarily the optimized CO2 route.

"The path between two points can be measured in distance, but it can also be measured in the amount of carbon dioxide that our vehicles emit," he said. "Through this research we believe that information provided by connected vehicles will allow a driver to decide the best route to achieve the lowest CO2 emissions."

The technology exists today to connect vehicles, now researches and engineers need to integrate these technologies into what Rosario calls an "Intelligent Vehicle Network".

"The goal is sustainable transportation," said Rosario. "Driving behavior can improve fuel efficiency by 20 percent. This initiative could improve that by another 20 percent."

EnvyofyouRS5 - 11/16/2007 2:10:58 PM

+3 Boost

Audi is by far an outstanding company , not just concerning about their cars performance, but also looking at what that performance may be limited to (gas prices , emission regulations) in the future. This is an outstanding example of leadership in contemporary and futre vision.

Agent009 - 11/16/2007 2:30:03 PM

+2 Boost

This is a unique way of saying if CO2 concerns you then take this route. It puts you in control.

EnvyofyouRS5 - 11/16/2007 3:32:20 PM

+2 Boost

Emissions will be controlled in the future, (CO2, Lead, Nitrous oxide, methane. This is by far more than just control, but a leading example.
This is why Audi is ahead of the game, besides par with just track times.

S4cabriofoxone - 11/16/2007 11:47:24 PM

+2 Boost

Although it makes most sense to simply reduce emissions in their vehicles--which they ARE doing--this is an intriguing step in the right direction.