Autoblog tests Audi's Virtual Cockpit in the 2016 Audi TT for the 2016 Autoblog Technology of the Year award.
Transcript[MUSIC PLAYING]
PETE BIGELOW: Hi everybody, I'm Pete Bigelow from Autoblog, here in Petoskey, Michigan, testing the finalists for the 2016 Autoblog Technology of the Year Award
ALEX KIERSTEIN: I'm senior editor Alex Kierstein, and today we're up in Petoskey, Michigan to take a look at the virtual cockpit in this 2016 Audi TT.
PETE BIGELOW: Let's check it out.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So Audi has taken what's traditionally been on the screen in the center, console and put it right on the dashboard for drivers. It's a much easier way to not be distracted by constant glances to the side, and it's much easier to keep your eyes on the road this way.
There's different ways to configure your screen to get the most out of what you want as on a personalized level. I really like this look. It's a much smarter, cleaner design to the dashboard here. Audi really fought through and reinvented the different ways that a driver needs to interact with your media, your phone your radio, and put it here on a much smaller and, uh, customizable screen.
ALEX KIERSTEIN: It took me a second to get used to not having this where I'm used to seeing it, which is on, on the screen that's usually in the center console. But once you get used to having all that information in front of you and interacting with it, in that giant TFT gauge that's right in front of the driver, it's really nice.
It looks slick. It's not really distracting, and it provides a lot of information without the driver having to look very far away from what's in front of them.
PETE BIGELOW: The only shortcomings I can really think of are from the passenger side. If you wanted to have another vehicle occupant turning on the radio or choosing your nav, that's really something that's now inaccessible to the passenger. Because they don't have a great view of the screen in front of the driver here.
ALEX KIERSTEIN: I have to be honest, when I'm in the car with a passenger, I often delegate a lot of those tasks, switching the radio station, you know, entering a destination to my passengers. So it will be a little difficult if you're used to having a partner in the car and doing that. So that's a challenge that I'm not sure how Audi is going to overcome with this technology.
PETE BIGELOW: So I really like this technology. I think it's a good, smart, original look at a infotainment system in an easily accessed package.
ALEX KIERSTEIN: It's a great technology. I think it works really well. And I think other automakers will probably be copying or, I guess, imitating this sort of technology in the future.
PETE BIGELOW: So that's my take on the Audi virtual cockpit. For Autoblog, I'm Pete Bigelow.
ALEX KIERSTEIN: Those were my quick thoughts on the virtual cockpit in this 2016 Audi TT. For Autoblog, I'm Alex KIERSTEIN.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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