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1,682 miles in a 2014 Audi A8 L TDI - Part 2

Interruptions like the Canadian Grand Prix, Le Mans, Pikes Peak, that ridiculous Porsche 911 GT3 and the really good, really outrageous Jeep Cherokee, are among the distractions that delayed the conclusion of this tale. If you'll remember, in Part 1 we started off in a parking lot in Sebring with an Audi A8, headed anywhere that would empty our tank, and after five days in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and Pompano Beach we bolted in the middle of the night for a breakfast date at an IHOP a couple hundred miles away.
We last left proceedings at a Chevron pump beside the West Florida Turnpike, somewhere around midnight in the humid wilds, having done 660 miles and spent $89.40 to put 20.992 gallons in the great white whale. We had done average speed of 31 miles per hour at an average rate of 27.5 miles per gallon. Those kinds of numbers, as we demonstrated, are good enough to put you in the fuel economy orbit of the Toyota Corolla - to be precise, it only cost $6.40 more to cover that 660 miles in the A8 TDI than it would in the Japanese compact. That led us to conclude that there were just a couple of Starbucks Venti lattes between the A8 and the Corolla, assuming we conveniently ignore the two cars' purchase prices. Turns out we were wrong: it didn't take long for a commenter named "mike" to set us straight when he wrote, "It's clear you weren't lying about not frequenting Starbucks...no way could you get two venti lattes for $6.40." Mike, we salute you - our ignorance of terrible coffee has served the higher purpose of emphasizing the strong case made by the diesel Audi.
But that A8... well, the wheels were still on the damn thing and we had to drive them off. That meant five more days of pilot duty to get us from wherever the hell we were to Wildwood and Daytona Beach, FL, then Brunswick, Macon and Atlanta, GA, then Birmingham, AL, and back to Atlanta.

Audi looks at the future of transportation for Ender's Game film

The forthcoming science-fiction movie Ender's Game, starring Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley, takes place in a high-tech world. So if movie-watchers are to be fully immersed in the story, every detail counts. That's why the computer-generated special-effects company assigned to the movie, Digital Domain, enlisted the help of Audi to design a future car that would fit seamlessly in the film's world - part of its $17.2-million investment in the movie.
Audi went all out, with Head of Audi Exterior Studio 1 Frank Rimili and designer Björn Wehrli assigned to the Audi Fleet Shuttle Quattro's design, which is so thorough and cohesive that we wouldn't be surprised to see cars like it on the road three-quarters of a century down the line. Rimili doubts that, but is "absolutely sure" Audi will still be around in 2088.
Watch the making-of video below to see all of the work that went into designing a car that will never see the light of day - in the real world, that is. If you're a fan of science fiction or the novel on which the movie is based, head on over to a theater to watch Ender's Game, which opens on Friday.

Audi confirms autonomous tech for next-gen A8

Like so many of its rivals, Audi is hard at work getting its autonomous driving technology up to speed and ready to reach the market. And now it's revealed when we can expect that time to come – or at least in what form it will arrive. In announcing the achievements of its latest RS7 Piloted Driving prototype, Audi has confirmed that the system will be offered for the first time on the next A8, the upcoming iteration of the German automaker's flagship sedan. Just as we heard this past January, the next-gen A8 will be able to drive itself around town at speeds of up to 37 miles per hour. Ingolstadt still isn't saying when we can expect the new A8 to arrive, but considering that the current model has been around since 2009 (albeit with periodic updates along the way) and that its key rivals – the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series – are both much newer models, Audi shouldn't be waiting much longer to launch its new flagship. The announcement was made as part of the reveal for "Robby," the latest version of the company's self-driving RS7 concept. The previous version, dubbed "Bobby," was based on the same model, and gave our man Jonathon Buckley over at Translogic a run for his money around Ascari a few months ago. (We'll let you watch the video below to see who fared better). But the new version is a good 882 pounds lighter, lapping the Sonoma Raceway (previously known as Infineon or Sears Point) in 2:01.01. That's in what is ostensibly still a road car, just one that's operated by a computer. The fastest lap ever recorded on the full 2.5-mile circuit, in case you were wondering, was also achieved in an Audi, but that was the R8 Le Mans Prototype that Allan McNish hustled around in a 1:20.68 qualifying lap. Related Video: 07/13/15 Sonoma/Ingolstadt Faster than a sports car driver: Audi pilots itself on US race track - Testing the new-generation Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept - Top lap times on Sonoma Raceway in California Piloted driving at Audi is approaching production readiness at race pace. On one of the world's most challenging race tracks, the Sonoma Raceway in California, the latest generation of the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept has surpassed previous top performances once again. Audi will be offering piloted driving for the first time in the upcoming generation of the Audi A8.