The Van-Like Audi Urbansphere Concept Puts First-Class In the Second Row

While the first two Audi "Sphere" concepts focused on the sporty (Skysphere) and luxury (Grandsphere) future of electric, fully self-driving capable vehicles, the new Audi Urbansphere focuses on those who live in tight, compact "megacities'' like in East and Southeast Asia. The focus of this "Sphere" is how the layout of an EV helps create a first-class experience that includes a lighted "red carpet" path for passengers to walk along, privacy panels, individual screens, and even fresh water service while riding to and from the office with Level Four Autonomy.

A Deceptive Looking Vehicle

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From the outside, the Urbansphere looks similar to many new EVs we're seeing: A CUV-like body with short overhangs, a lift gate, a frunk, and four-doors. You'd wouldn't be mistaken to think this is just another standard people mover with an Audi badge and some trick exterior lighting at the front and rear, which we'll get to later. But open the doors, including the suicide rears, and you'll quickly realize this isn't intended to be an average people mover.

First-Class Treatment Just Walking Up To It

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The first thing you'll see is that there is a red light emanating from the bottom of the Urbansphere. However, instead of leading you to the front two seats of this three-row vehicle, it instead leads you to the middle row seats, which look more at home on a private jet or in first-class on an international jetliner. These middle seats swivel towards you for easy access, made even easier thanks to the vehicle design featuring a pillar-less open door design.

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These seats nearly surround you as you sit, much like a modern style chair does. Swiveling upward, the center console reveals itself as if it's floating towards you, and underneath are glasses for the integrated water dispenser. Not only do you have a private screen to look at while riding, but you also have a transparent OLED screen that pivots down from the roof and between the two front seats and allows you to share a screen with your fellow passenger.

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If you want to, you can give yourself some privacy by pressing a button on the door controls. This moves an arching panel located behind the headrest between you and your fellow passenger. You can also lean the seats back into a lounging position, complete with a leg rest for additional riding comfort, much like a real first-class jet seat. Thanks to the all glass roof, you can get some amazing views of the city while you're riding along or have a nighttime sky to doze off to.

Controls That Don't Need a Physical Touch

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The only problem is, say, you want to adjust your climate zone and you can't physically touch the control located on the door panel. That's not a problem in the Urbansphere, where a gesture control, voice command, and eye-tracking system makes changing anything from that to the content on your radio a simple swipe, twist, or movement of your hands. The Urbanshpere will also learn about its riders and adjust to their preferences and frequently used functions, giving the rider a truly tailored VIP experience.

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It even goes so far as to sense if you're stressed out by analyzing your face and voice. If it senses stress, the Urbansphere will offer suggestions for relaxation that you can use on your private screen and sound zone in the headrests. Even if you do need to touch anything on the Urbansphere, the real wood, wool and synthetic fabrics all give the users a feeling of high-quality and are "pleasant to the touch," according to Audi.

A Friendly Interior, Even Outside of Human Use

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The key feature of the interior materials is their sustainability. The seat padding is made of recycled polyamide Econyl, which comes from post-consumer waste including abandoned fishing nets, carpets, and rigid textiles. The armrests and rear fabric are made from bamboo viscose, which comes from the cellulose of bamboo that's made into a pulp before being extracted by spinnerets. The use of real wood isn't just because trees can be replanted, but they're also sourced from the area where the Urbansphere is assembled.

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Confusingly, Audi claims these materials are made without using chemicals during the manufacturing process, but don't refer to what manufacturing chemicals aren't used. For example, our quick research shows bamboo viscose seems to require the use of sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide for pulping of the bamboo, while sulfuric acid is required during the solidification process for the spinnerette extraction. It's unclear what methods Audi used in its processing.

Screens You'll Never See

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The transparent OLED display isn't the only hidden screen in the Urbansphere. Looking at its interior when everything is off, you won't find dark squares on the dashboard. Instead, all of the content and information is projected onto the wooden surfaces. This gives the Urbansphere a unique feeling of unobtrusiveness, ideally making it an area of calm in an otherwise busy city. It allows you to get away from the hectic crowded landscape. Audi even goes so far as to offer virtual reality glasses in the armrests of the doors that work with the infotainment system, if a user chooses to put them on.

Level Four Autonomy

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Like the other Sphere concepts, the Urbansphere is made with Level Four Autonomy in mind. The entire instrument cluster and steering wheel disappear behind the dashboard when in full autonomous mode. This also allows the entire windshield to become a screen for projecting app and content information, which reduces down to just the passenger side when in manual driving mode.

As a level four self-driving machine, the Urbansphere will also theoretically drive itself to a parking space when not needed. While four-wheel steering capable, the Urbansphere won't crab walk into a parallel parking space but instead find a space that's normally too tight for people to get in and out of. Why would you need parallel parking when it can drive right up to where you're standing when you're ready for it?

It's Big, But Doesn't Look It

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The other key feature of the Urbansphere is the use of the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) EV platform. The Urbansphere is 18 feet long, 5.8 feet tall, and 6.6 feet wide with its 24 inch wheels sitting on a 11 feet long wheelbase, making it one of the largest vehicles Audi has produced (concept or otherwise). It doesn't look like it, as the entire vehicle is designed to look smaller by using a wide curved roof arch, large rockers that help conceal the entirely flat 120 kWh battery pack, and the softened shape of the wheel arches.

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Even driving the Urbansphere should feel smaller, as it utilizes Audi's air ride and semi-active damper control system along with its advanced four-wheel steering system. This large EV hides its heft, as well, thanks to its dual motor setup that produces 396 hp and 509 ft-lbs of torque. The Urbansphere will get up and go to keep within the flow of city traffic without breaking a sweat.

Charging The Urbansphere

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The large battery can also be charged in a hurry. The 120 kWh pack uses an 800 volt charging system that allows the battery to charge at a 270 kW rate at DC fast charging stations. This will allow the Urbansphere to charge up to 186 miles of range in just 10 minutes, where infrastructure is available. In less than 25 minutes, you can charge from 5 percent to 80 percent, which equals out to 466 miles of range. Both numbers are claimed by Audi based on the EU WLTP standard.

A Canvas of Light

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Since it is an EV, the Urbansphere doesn't require traditional radiator openings, like an ICE vehicle does. However, Audi still wanted to retain its iconic "Singleframe" grille shape. Instead of sculpting it out of plastic and metal, Audi chose to use its advanced LED lighting knowledge to create the "Audi Light Canvas."

The entire front end is a giant LED matrix light setup that not only recreates the Singleframe, but also works to give people outside the Urbansphere information from traditional turn signals to indicate that it's accelerating to large red Xs to indicate a warning or hazard. It can even be used to give the Urbansphere some character. This light canvas is also recreated in the rear, but with the addition of indicating when the vehicle is coming to a stop.

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Finally, as a personal touch of lighting for its occupants, the Urbansphere also includes the Audi Light Umbrella. Not only does the umbrella light up to help illuminate the user for their safety while crossing the street, but the inner skin features reflective material to provide glare-free lighting. That's perfect for taking selfies, whenever it strikes the user's fancy.

Is The Urbansphere A Hint At A Future Vehicle?

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Like most concepts, the Urbansphere—in fact, all the Audi Sphere concepts—aren't always an indication that a vehicle is coming soon. They are just design experiments to show off the company's latest tech, and to help gauge what the public wants.

The Urbansphere in particular is made more for Chinese tastes, as Audi pointed out that they worked closely with customers in the Asian country and integrated features they were looking for. There are many features that the US probably wouldn't consider, like the majority focus on the second row of the Urbansphere. Most of the buying public would expect to sit in the front seats here in America.

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There are also some questionable features like the clear OLED display. While they exist, the reality is that they are very hard to view clearly against bright, similar colors the display is showing. These screens often require the use of an LCD or tinted background to reduce that glare. The same issues persist with projecting anything on a surface; the moment you shine light against it, you can no longer see it.

Of course, there's also that promise of level four autonomy, which no manufacturer has fully implemented in public yet. While eye-tracking is being used to ensure a driver is attentive behind the wheel and voice controls already exist on many cars, gesture control is still something that's not completely reliable, though the tech seems to be getting better. These are potentially all features that are years away, if not entirely possible at all.

There Are Hints At Realistic Features, Though

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Overall, the Urbansphere is an interesting concept for anyone that wants to be treated like VIP passengers in a private jet. For most everyone else, it's probably just best to look at the more realistic hints that Audi didn't lay its focus on.

The Light Canvas is something that we're most likely to see, especially as vehicle lighting laws continue to evolve quickly here in the U.S. We would be surprised if that didn't make it soon, at least as auxiliary lighting for the Audi Singleform grille on their upcoming EVs. LEDs right now are small yet powerful enough to be used in this fashion. There are other design ideas in the shape of the Urbansphere, how its complementing trim is laid out, and potentially the use of Econyl and bamboo viscose fabric on the interior that could see use in the near future, as well.

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