In urban areas, where personal space is in particularly short supply, the concept car offers the largest interior space of any Audi to date. It intelligently coordinates this with technologies and digital services that appeal to all the senses and offer a whole new level of experience.

The spacious automobile acts as a lounge on wheels and a mobile office, serving as a third living space during the time spent in traffic. To this end, the Audi Urbansphere combines the luxury of complete privacy with a comprehensive range of high-tech features on board, even during the daily rush hour. Automated driving technology transforms the interior, in which a steering wheel, pedals, or displays are notably absent, into a mobile interactive space that provides a gateway to a wider digital ecosystem.

Audi Urbansphere is based on level 4 autonomous vehicle technology. The automaker is currently working with Cariad, Volkswagen Group’s software business, to introduce this technology within the second half of the decade.

Interior size

Even at first glance, the Audi Urbansphere concept reveals itself to be the largest model in the sphere family and of all Audi concept cars to date. Its grand dimensions – 5.51 m (18 feet) long, 2.01 m (6.6 feet) wide, and 1.78 ms (5.8 feet) high – place it in the upper echelons of the automotive world, yet the Audi Urbansphere concept radically breaks with the conventions of the segment.

This is because it has been systematically designed around its passengers, from the inside out. The most important dimension is the unrivalled wheelbase of 3.40 m (11.2 feet). The interior of the Audi Urbansphere is not subject to the conventional maxim of squeezing as many seats, storage compartments, and functional elements as possible into a space limited by the physics of driving. Instead, it prioritises the occupants’ need to experience ample space as a distinctive comfort factor.

The architecture – from the inside out

Even the “sphere” in the name sends a signal: the heart of the Audi Skysphere, Grandsphere, and Urbansphere concept vehicles lies in their interior. That makes the inner space the foundation of the vehicle’s design and technology and therefore the occupants’ living and experience sphere while on the road.

The Audi Urbansphere also qualifies as a wellness zone, thanks to innovative digital options that emerged in no small part through input from the co-creation process with Chinese customers. Stress detection is a prime example – this adaptive programme uses facial scans and voice analysis to determine how passengers are feeling and offers personalised suggestions for relaxation, for example with a meditation app that can be used via the personal screen and the private sound zone in the headrests.

The heart of the drive system is the 800 volt charging technology. It ensures that the battery can be charged with up to 270 kilowatts at fast-charging stations in the shortest possible time. As such, charging times approach those of a conventional stop to refuel a car powered by an internal combustion engine: just 10 minutes are enough to charge the battery to a level sufficient to power the car more than 300 km.