We sneak a peek at Audi’s laser-packing Sport Quattro Laserlight
Everything is better with lasers. Everything [updated with video]
Audi’s brought something a bit different to CES: a car that’s kitted out with lasers.
Sadly, the Audi Quattro Laserlight can’t blast traffic wardens out of existence with death rays – these light beams are strictly for safety.
Audi has fitted the concept with a new kind of headlight that uses (you guessed it) lasers combined with matrix LEDs to deliver increased luminosity. The lamps can illuminate the road up to 500m ahead of the car, which Audi claims is around twice the luminosity of standard LED headlights.
95mpg from the hybrid engine
The car is a hybrid, combining a four-litre bi-turbo V8 turbo engine with a plug-in electric drive. The battery supports over 30 miles of all-electric driving, but the combustion engine can push the Sport Quattro Laserlight to impressive speeds – it’ll go from 0 to 62mph in 3.7 seconds and has a top speed of just under 190mph. The hybrid system – and the car’s lightweight build – means that you’ll get fuel consumption of around 95 miles to the gallon.
On the interior side of things, there’s a next-gen touchscreen panel inside that, thanks to an Nvidia Tegra 30 processor, provides hi-res 3D graphics for entertainment, navigation and information, rather than the usual flat set of buttons and images.
As with most concepts, there’s not much chance of seeing this on the road in its current form any time soon – but the tech inside and out could well find itself cropping up on Audi cars of the near future.
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Sam Kieldsen
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