One of the highest profile presentations at the Umeå Institute of Design 2012 Degree Show in Umeå, Sweden, the Audi Elite Concept blatantly rejects the emerging trend towards autonomous cars in favor of a vehicle that directly engages the driver at all times. Created by Eric Leong with the official blessing and sponsorship of Audi AG, this futuristic single-seater replaces conventional vehicle-control input devices with a unique interface system that borrows its philosophy from motorcycles and its operational technology from videogames. With it, the driver can control all dynamic responses of the Audi Elite by moving or rotating their hands, arms, legs, feet and body.
Beyond its basic response algorithms, the Audi Elite also employs an array of motion sensors to that allows it to assess the skill set of the person in its cockpit. The more proficient its pilot, the more precisely it will react to inputs. For the ultimate thrill, the Audi Elite Concept also features a series of movable aero panels that can be manually adjusted to further enhance its enthusiast character. Leong even fabricated full-scale mock-ups of the controllers in the Audi Elite Concept to check out how functional and user-friendly they would be in real-world conditions. Don’t expect to see a road-going version of the Audi Elite Concept any time soon, but it does represent an interesting take on 21st century automotive possibility thinking.
