Audi’s latest idea automotive is a glossy, sinister-looking electrical convertible known as Skysphere that blends Batmobile-like applied sciences and aggressive design traits with luxurious facilities.

Most notably, the roadster idea options an adaptable wheelbase that may change sizes based mostly on driving modes and a digital cockpit with retractable steering wheel and pedals which can be designed to stow away when the automotive is driving itself.

“That is what we name progressive luxurious,” Henrik Wenders, head of Audi, mentioned throughout a media occasion for the automobile’s digital unveiling Tuesday. “This isn’t somewhat a automotive, it is an expertise machine.”

The idea automotive represents what Audi believes it may obtain, probably within the second half of this decade, because it pivots to electrical and autonomous automobiles, in accordance with firm officers. Audi plans to solely provide EVs by 2033, following the introduction of its final automobile with an inside combustion engine in 2026.

Audi mentioned the Skysphere is designed to drive itself however that it can not truly achieve this at the moment. It is unclear how possible a automobile that may change sizes can be for a manufacturing mannequin. Its EV driving vary is about 310 miles, in accordance with Audi.

Wenders mentioned auto manufacturers equivalent to Audi should be interested by what could possibly be attainable with EVs even when superior applied sciences, equivalent to an adjustable wheelbase, is probably not at the moment on the horizon.

Other than the applied sciences, the automobile indicators a brand new design route for the Volkswagen-owned luxurious model. Gael Buzyn, head of Audi’s design studio in Malibu, mentioned “plenty of components” of the automotive will make it into future manufacturing automobiles.

Audi executives mentioned the automobile is basically “two automobiles in a single.” The primary is an aggressive-driving roadster able to reaching 60 mph in about 4 seconds and provides about 553 pound ft of torque. The second is a grand touring coach automotive that may drive itself and increase about 10 inches for a bigger, extra comfy cabin.

“It is not only a design examine, it is a idea displaying us, internally and externally, what’s attainable,” Wenders mentioned. “It’s a idea showcasing us how we’re combining each an automotive driving expertise with an immersive digital expertise. That is two-in-one.”

The automotive was unveiled Tuesday for the 2021 Monterey Automobile Week in California, a high-end automotive competition that features the celebrated Pebble Seashore Concours d’Magnificence automotive present.

The Skysphere is the primary of a brand new household of idea automobiles specializing in Audi’s altering from vehicles to “expertise units.” The second automobile, known as the Grandsphere, is scheduled to be unveiled Sept. 1, adopted by the Urbansphere within the first half of 2022.

The time period “sphere” is supposed to represent the inside area of the automobiles for drivers and passengers, in accordance with Audi.

“These idea vehicles function a brand new design that in the end reimagines the inside, the passenger compartment, as the middle of the automobile and not subordinates the passenger expertise to the necessities of the expertise,” the corporate mentioned in a launch.

Automakers routinely use idea automobiles to gauge buyer curiosity or present the longer term route of a automobile or model.