AUDI BRINGS GOOGLE NAVIGATION POWER TO MZANSI

Audi South Africa is pleased to announce the introduction of Audi connect on-line services. Audi connect includes navigation via Google Earth Imagery and Google Street View, integral WLAN hotspot for internet access on the move and a Point of Interest Search for quick navigation services.
 

Audi connect services will be launched in South Africa with the introduction of the new Audi A4 range. Audi connect will also be available in the Audi A5 range, Audi A6, Audi A7 Sportback, Audi A8 and the Audi Q7. Connect services are planned for the Audi A1 and Audi Q3 at a later stage.

Audi has been collaborating with Google since 2005, and, as a result of this fruitful partnership, has set new standards in Internet use in the vehicle. With Audi connect it is now continuing to build on this foundation and is expanding its product range to include new forms of networking. In the process, Audi connect is encompassing the fields of online vehicle connection, networking of the car and its owner and networking of the car with the infrastructure and with other cars.

Audi connect brings the benefits of an increasingly networked world into this vehicle. This term brackets together all applications and developments that connect up to present-day and future Audi models with the internet, the owner and the infrastructure.

Audi connect services take communication, information and entertainment to a new level. They make it easy for you to search for any particular points of interest on Google using the MMI, check news headlines or call up the latest weather forecast for your navigation destination. Data transfer is by means of the UMTS module of the Bluetooth car phone online, which has to be ordered as an option for the MMI navigation plus.

The WLAN hotspot is a world first. It enables front and rear passengers to retrieve important information, data and e-mails just as conveniently and securely as in their office or home. Communication with the internet is via the roof aerial, through the car’s own UMTS module.

With Audi connect, our customers have access to world-class-technology never seen before in South Africa. Not only does it underline and support the Vorsprung durch Technik ethos, Audi connect also makes the Audi brand class leading in the field of in-car connectivity and entertainment.

These connections make a wide array of useful applications possible, such as the unrestricted integration of Google Earth into the navigation system's map display, which makes orientation significantly easier. In addition, due to being connected to the Google search engine, the driver has instant access to a huge number of up-to-date points of interest.

Thanks to the integrated W-LAN hotspot, up to eight mobile devices can be linked to the Internet and rear passengers have full internet access when the vehicle is in motion. Audi customers will be able to use Google Street View as a new online service, and will be able to view the navigation destination on the MMI display from the pedestrian’s perspective in a 360-degree radius.

Thanks to the new Audi connect technologies; driving an Audi will be even more enjoyable, efficient and safe. And in spite of all of the networking, the technology will play a supporting role and will never overrule the driver.

STORY BY AUDI