The software industry’s tech support motto—RTFM, or Read The [Freaking] Manual—is lost on the smartphone generation. For them, it’s faster and easier to point a camera at a warning light and have a message pop up to explain the problem.
That’s exactly what Audi’s augmented reality app—called eKurzinfo—can do on Audi’s most affordable models, the A1 and the upcoming 2015 A3. The app can even scan the engine bay and show you where the coolant tank is via a 3D image overlaid on the phone’s display. Should the coolant gauge make you flustered, eKurzinfo can tell you what the temperature reading means. Seriously.
Other luxury automakers, Audi included, have started placing basic information within a model’s infotainment system, replete with graphics, video, and voice-over explanations. Audi hasn’t said whether the app will be available in the U.S., but European owners can use their iPhones to identify more than 300 parts of their cars, without—gasp!—thumbing through a printed manual. An Android version will be available by the end of September.
- First Drive: 2013 Audi A3 Euro-Spec
- First Drive: 2013 Audi Allroad
- First Drive: 2013 Audi RS4 Avant
A few weeks earlier, Audi unveiled the industry’s first 4G LTE data services for European S3 models that should reduce loading times for Google Earth and Audi’s in-car app suite. We’ll see it first when the 2015 A3 debuts next spring.
Aside from the wow-factor, apps allow automakers to save money on paper they’d otherwise include in the car. Take a look at the video to get an augmented glimpse of the virtual future.
Source: CarAndDriver
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