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2016 Technology of the Year Finalist: Audi Virtual Cockpit

The heart of most infotainment systems is a touchscreen in the center console. In many systems, some information can be sent to the gauge cluster in slightly redacted form – stripped-down navigation commands, basic audio info, that sort of thing. To get the full story, the driver has to take their eyes off the road and look to the middle of the dashboard. Audi's Virtual Cockpit, in essence, ditches the center screen and places all that information in the gauge cluster. The high-resolution TFT screen is just over a foot wide, and it has two main modes: Classic view, and Infotainment view. Classic looks like many other traditional TFT gauge clusters, with large traditional gauges and the ability to display a decent amount of information in the space in-between. Go into Infotainment view, and the gauges shrink and head to the lower corners, freeing up a much larger amount of real estate for, say, the nav system map. The gauges also get out of the way when utilizing the menu, entering a destination, or that sort of thing. The four main modes are standard stuff. Virtual Cockpit will show you navigation, media, phone, and trip computer information in large or small formats. You interact with Virtual Cockpit with a familiar MMI wheel-type controller in the center console, like in many other Audis, or with buttons and a scroll/push wheel on the left side of the steering wheel. Climate control functions are handed by physical controls cleverly integrated in the center three vents. It takes a lot of processing power to make all this work as well as it does, and that's handled by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor – a quad-core processor usually seen in tablets and smartphones. The system is quick and responsive, and we found the high-resolution screen to be impressively sharp. If there's a downside, it's that Virtual Cockpit doesn't leave an opportunity for a passenger to step in and, say, enter a destination or change the radio station without altering what's right in front of the driver. It could be inconvenient at best, distracting at worst, to have the nav system directions you're trying to follow suddenly be superseded by the audio menu. Adding a small secondary screen for the passenger could be one fix; a connected companion smartphone app another. In the meantime, it's an impressive implementation of a clever idea.

Volkswagen may soon have remedy for more cheating diesels

Nearly a half-million motorists who own Volkswagens equipped with 2.0-liter engines have known for a few weeks the company might wind up buying back their vehicles as part of a settlement surrounding the company's emissions cheating. But about 85,000 drivers who own similarly afflicted diesels with 3.0-liter engines have been stuck without a remedy. They may not be waiting much longer. Bloomberg reports that Volkswagen will soon propose a fix for vehicles, including those from Audi and Porsche, equipped with 3.0-liter engines that will include new software and a new catalytic converter for the vehicles. Discussions with federal regulators are ongoing, according to the news outlet. "We are cooperating with the regulatory agencies and working with them on an approved solution," says Audi spokesperson Mark Clothier. "Beyond that, we cannot comment on ongoing investigations." Regulators have alleged that the company's 3.0-liter engines contain "defeat devices," illegal software that allows a vehicle to detect when it's undergoing an emissions test and turn off pollution control during real-world driving. The defeat device allows these vehicles to increase emissions of nitrogen oxide up to nine times the Environmental Protection Agency's allowable threshold. Affected 3.0-liter vehicles include the 2014 Volkswagen Toureg, 2015 Porsche Cayenne and the 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L and Q5. Volkswagen is slated to finalize its plans for buying back the afflicted 2.0-liter cars and potentially offer those motorists "substantial compensation" for their troubles by June 21, and it's possible that a formal announcement on the 3.0-liter vehicles would come at the same time. Related Video:

Audi reveals facelifted A7 and S7 in Europe [w/videos]

Audi has revealed the nip/tuck and stylistic upgrades for the A7 that we got clues to in spy shots from back in January. The single-frame grille has been subtly reworked along with the lower front fascia and headlilghts. Those bulbs are underlined by a new design for the LED DRLs, and - in Europe - they can be had with Matrix Beam LEDs that come with dynamic turn signals. Out back is a tweaked bumper, as well as new exhaust tips and taillights with an LED pattern that mimics the front lights.
Cockpit inhabitants get new surface treatments like the aluminum and Beaufort walnut inlays, Valcona leather and five possible colors for the seats. The company's MMI Navigation Plus with MMI Touch is fitted with an Nvidia chip for faster graphics processing, and LTE-enabled internet connectivity is standard.
Up front, the 3.0-liter bi-turbo TDI gets a power boost to 320 horsepower and is attached to an eight-speed transmission; a seven-speed S tronic transmission is paired to the rest of the line. The revised 3.0-liter V6 TDI recently discussed at the Vienna Motor Symposium also joins the lineup, here offered in both the 272-hp and 218-hp variants, that latter "ultra" version said to return 50 US miles per gallon.