Audi Press Release
- Eve of the Annual Press Conference in the Technical Development division
- Plant tour with technological highlights and milestones of the “smart factory”
- Board of Management Chairman Rupert Stadler: “Employees with lots of ideas for the premium of the future”
Pioneering technologies from the areas of development and production were shown in an Innovation Forum organized by Audi today in Ingolstadt, on the eve of its Annual Press Conference. 300 international journalists were guests in the Technical Development and Production divisions. They viewed the company’s new Lighting Assistance Center, Wind Tunnel Center and various stations depicting milestones along the way to the intelligently connected factory.
“The principle of ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ is tangible in all areas of our company,” stated Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “Our employees are bursting with ideas and energy. Together, we are shaping the premium of the future with innovative, efficient and emotive automobiles from an intelligently connected factory.”
In the 120-meter-long new Lighting Assistance Center, Audi experts presented innovative lighting technologies such as matrix-laser headlights and a laser spotlight for the high beam.
In the Wind Tunnel Center, the focus was on the new Audi R8 LMS. The racing car features extremely good aerodynamics, which are the result of intensive work and numerous tests in the wind tunnel. “In our Technical Development, the technology of tomorrow is already being created today,” stated Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Board of Management Member for Technical Development. “This is where the core values for ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ are developed. This is where we push forward in the innovative fields of lighting, connectivity, piloted driving, engines, efficiency and sustainability.”
Audi puts innovative technologies into its cars in an increasingly intelligent production process: “Our goal is the ‘smart factory’ in which processes run semi-automatically and production equipment is intelligent. Humans and machines are coming closer together – just like the digital and the real world,” stated Audi’s Board of Management Member for Production Prof. Dr. Hubert Waltl.
At the Innovation Forum, media representatives gained a good insight into important aspects of the “smart factory.” In the assembly process, the focus was on a robot that works hand in hand with people – without any protective fence and always at the same speed as the employees. They also saw how experts virtually plan the new Audi plant in Mexico and analyze the Audi RS Q3* with an augmented-reality system. In Audi’s Tooling Division, the company showed its intelligent tools, which control themselves so that precision of hundredths of millimeters can be achieved with car-body parts. And an expert explained how a 3D printer produces metal parts with complex geometries.
Photo credit: Audi Media Services
