Audi Sport quattro Laserlight concept gets CES reveal

The second incarnation of the Audi Sport quattro concept has been unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Audi Sport quattro Laserlight concept is based on the car that premiered at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. The CES show car is said to demonstrate the future of lighting technology.

It features a combination of matrix LED and laser light technologies. Two elements are visible in the headlight units: the outer ring provides the low beam using matrix LEDs, while the inner uses laser light technology for the high beam.

Audi says laser diodes are far smaller than LEDs. They measure just a few microns in diameter and can provide twice the lighting range and three times the luminosity of LED high beam units. The technology will be used on Audi’s R18 e-tron quattro race car in the forthcoming season.

The Laserlight concept is finished in Plasma Red paint and features a new interior colour scheme. Audi says the Laserlight concept’s steering wheel, which has a number of buttons to control features including the hybrid system and Audi Drive Select, points to the future design of production steering wheels. 

Key information is shown on a TFT screen using three-dimensional graphics. It is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 30 processor which it shares with a number of tablet computers, including the Microsoft Surface.

Most of the concept’s systems can be controlled by a revised version of Audi’s MMI controller. The concept also shows a new user interface, similar to that of a smartphone.

Audi boss Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg said: “On board this car we have e-tron technology with 515kW (690bhp) of power and 2.5 l/100 km (113 mpg) fuel economy; laser headlights that leave all previous systems in the dark with its higher performance as well as new display and operating systems with cutting-edge electronic performance. We are showing the future of Audi here.”