Audi’s Latest Concept Car Is a Living Space on Wheels
High-end car manufacturer Audi recently revealed its new concept car. The so-called AI:ME is an electric, fully autonomous vehicle, designed as a 'third living space' complete with plants.
The fact that millennials love houseplants has become a cliché in media. It’s now time to take houseplants on the go in your third living space, also known as the AI:ME by Audi. The fully autonomous concept car was revealed by Audi at Auto Shanghai 2019. The vehicle has doors that open in opposite directions for easy access. It has innovative headlights that are placed higher on the car for added visibility. They are also adaptive to what’s happening around the car.
But more than the futuristic exterior, the interior is what makes AI:ME special. It’s designed as a space that the user should feel at home in. The car should also function as a calm refuge for urbanites that otherwise suffer in their cars during rush hour. The interior features ambient lighting, adaptive seat positioning and a noise compensation system that blocks out all that white city noise. “We create a feel-good atmosphere by appealing to all of the users’ senses,” says designer James Nissen.
To go with the feel-good atmosphere, there are real plants in the car. The living plants that are incorporated in Audi AI:ME’s roof are the first ever use of vegetation in a car’s interior. The use of plants in the interior is not just decoration. It’s there to connect busy urbanites with nature. “We use climbing plants across the see-through roof to bring a bit of nature into the big city. Aside from that, they improve the air quality,” says Nissen.
Audi isn’t the only car manufacturer on a mission to reinvent their products. Honda took the idea of envisioning cars as new livings spaces even further. In 2017, the Japanese company presented the Ie-Mobi — a living room on wheels that can be disconnected from the house and become an autonomous vehicle.
