Simply Abu Dhabi XXXI

If you include the dash which itself is a 12.3- inch virtual cockpit display right in front of the driver, and the heads-up display bouncing off the windscreen, it makes for a lot of screen- based information hitting the driver at once. The few buttons and dials remaining now perform a variety of tasks depending on the screen mode, which itself has a series of touchscreen buttons that give feedback through the fingers with the latest in haptic and acoustic technology. It’s part of Audi’s aim to make its MMI interface take the car’s interior into a fully digital world where the dash and functions are customisable allowing you to move your favourite functions around on the drag-and- drop screens and isolate the ones you don’t use as often. While this is great for economies of scale for the manufacturer, it remains an annoyance for the driver as touchscreens, by their nature, require the driver to take their eyes off the road more often compared to using the old style rotary dials and buttons, which is not really an ideal scenario at this stage. Like the A8, the A7 features Level 3 autonomy but also like the A8, you won’t be able to use it for a while until government legislators around the world catch up and live up to their end of the bargain before we can begin to go driverless on the roads. What it does have working, however, is adaptive cruise control with stop-start functionality for city traffic and while we didn’t get to try it this time, it will also include Park Pilot and Park Assist as an update further down the track. This allows you to remotely park and retrieve your car from outside the vehicle, operating the car from your smart phone. The new Audi A7 should start appearing in showrooms from early September.