10 REASONS WHY THE AUDI RSQ PREVIEWS THE FUTURE OF EVS

Alex Proyas's film, I,Robot, takes place in a fictional and futuristic, Chicago, Illinois in the year 2035. With Will Smith (Del Spooner) in the leading role, he takes the viewer into a future where interacting with humanoid robots is a part of everyday life. This film makes additional predictions about the future that are likely to someday come true. Prosthetic technology has reached new heights where the disabled can become super-abled. Digital clocks read 22:00, implying that the United States will have switched from a 12-hour to a 24-hour time format by 2035. Some predictions have already come true by the time of this article’s publishing. Credit and debit cards scan to pay. Voice commands have become standard with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Of course, the focus is that EVs will become a transportation standard. This film, nominated for “Best Visual Effects” under the Academy Awards, even goes as far as to reimagine highway systems to better accommodate these EVs, with the stunning Audi RSQ as the product we are to all drool over. The influence of this blockbuster is everlasting for its precise projections and more. I,Robot is the ultimate example of a quintessential film that guides our world into a future that is tangible. Now, let's discuss why that very same Audi RSq is a prime example of the future of electric cars.

EU To Ban Non-EVs The Same Year The Film Is Set - Freaky Coincidence?

The year that the film is set happens to be the same year that the European Union is putting in efforts to ban the purchase of brand-new diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles. Cars and vans make up a reported 15% of greenhouse gasses, and EU lawmakers have voted to put a stop to it. The big goal is to cut emissions down to 0% by 2050. The average lifespan of a car with an internal combustion engine is fifteen years. These plans have seen many updates due to pushback from Germany, Italy, Poland, and the Czech Republic, however, and these countries are requesting an exception for e-Fuels. Volker Wissin, the German transport minister, tweeted "Vehicles with combustion engines can still be newly registered after 2035 if they use only CO2-neutral fuels,". Although correct movie predictions are often dismissed as conspiracy theory, could the movie have possibly influenced this ban to fall in the same year as the film's setting?

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I,Robot References Volatility Of Oil-Based Fuels

Del Spooner's 2004 MV Agusta F4-SPR 750 is introduced as the first gas-powered vehicle on screen. This is a motorcycle that is driven from a storage unit after Spooner's Audi RSQ is destroyed by rogue robots. Supporting character, Susan Calvin, responds in fear stating, “Are you being funny? Please tell me this doesn’t run on gas. Gas explodes, you know?”

It can be implied that gas-powered vehicles are strongly discouraged to operate and possibly even banned. Citizens of this futuristic Chicago seem to view gas as unreasonably dangerous and highly explosive. This scene further supports a theory on potential tactics of the EU to help with the 2035 ban. The scene also reinforces into the minds of viewers that the Audi RSQ and other Audi models will remain a highly desirable standard.

Tunnel Systems As Highways

I,Robot has pulled all the stops to offer a very strategically convincing world that supports the electric car. A major contributor is the reimagining of highway systems. Like normal highways, roads have multiple lanes with enclosed tunnels. These fictional tunnels differ by supporting safe transport of cars exceeding speeds of 160 miles per hour (as shown in the film). For such speeds to be safe would mean creating controlled environments not affected by earthly elements. A company that seems to have taken direct inspiration from those scenes is The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk. The website reads, “TBC creates safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels. TBC has spent the last 5 years building core technologies designed to solve traffic and beautify our cities via Loop and Hyperloop.” In addition, I,Robot’s underground tunnel offered company parking solutions in even more enclosed spaces. Elon has many more notes to take and tunnels to dig.

Masterful Product Placement

Before Michael Bay's Transformers had customers lined up to buy every affordable General Motors car shown in his movies, iRobot and Audi were selling tangible, ergonomic ideas. Not only was the Audi RSQ re-engineering important car features, I,Robot put into practice how those various features worked in order to paint a vivid future. The film further sold the vision of owning an RSQ by reimagining civil engineering to accommodate this forward-thinking car. This movie has and continues to serve as a template for companies that create private and public goods for automobiles. Buyers will someday purchase spherical wheels because of the Audi RSQ. Autonomous technology is steadily being challenged despite obvious dangers, because of the Audi RSQ. Lamborghini can't receive all the credit for supercars having unique and complex door hinges. Audi has sold consumers on that idea as well.

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EVs Can Be Intentionally Beautiful

By popular opinion, the Tesla Cybertruck is generally agreed to be ugly. So is the BMW i3 and first-generation Nissan Leaf. EVs have a reputation of visually separating themselves from gas-powered cars by way of strange, alien styling. These design choices have alienated customers who are willing to buy an EV. No matter one’s love for the planet, proportionately challenged cars can act as the polar opposite of high-status symbols, resulting in cold shoulders from strangers. Carmakers have begun to make better design choices for their electric fleets, from making them less distinguishable from traditional cars, to reimagining luxury for the future. It is becoming more likely that once the year 2035 arrives, seeing cars as beautiful as the Audi RSQ will not be a rare sight.

Timeless Design

The Audi RSQ became a template for what we know as the Audi R8. This experimental movie car that was unveiled to the public in 2004 led to the first Audi R8 roadcar going into production two years later. The challenge on the hands of the design team was to create a car that would read as an Audi for both the years 2004 and 2035. This meant experimentation inside the boundaries of Audi’s brand identity. Specific to Audi is the four-ringed logo attached to an upside-down trapezoidal grille. The design team also put a focus on unibody design to give the effect that the car is molded as one whole piece, further pushing the idea that every feature belongs with great intentionality. The wheels don’t overpower the car, but they are the car. The doors don’t separate from the car, but they add to the strength of the design of the car. It is difficult to imagine the car’s differing features being taken away, because the car would feel incomplete.

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A Preview of Autonomy

Self-driving cars are the future and companies like Tesla and Lucid have made it feel like less of a pipe dream and more of a reality. Many of the achievements reached from Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to Autopark and Smart Summon, have pushed passed much adversity. To get this far in technological progression can partially be attributed to a movie that has earned an IMDb Rating of 7.1 out of 10. Alex Proya directed numerous driving scenes to best sell the idea of how autopilot features can make life easier. In this film, Spooner is scolded by his boss for driving his RSQ manually, before a massive wreck occurs. Even Spooner’s partner, Susan Calvin, questions why he drives his car manually after a near accident at over 180 miles per hour. The United States Department of Transportation states, “A NHTSA study showed that motor vehicle crashes cost billions each year. Eliminating the majority of vehicle crashes through technology could reduce this cost.” Studies on autonomy offer many more reasons to make it a future automotive standard.

Wheels Reinvented

I,Robot introduced many viewers to putting spherical wheels on a car. Converting a standard cylindrical tire into a ball greatly increases its functioning potential. In these modern times, various tasks have become increasingly difficult for newer drivers like: reversing, parallel parking, driving off-road, driving on ice, et cetera. Spherical wheels ease some of these challenges. In the film, Spooner’s Audi RSQ spins out in the tunnel, giving the illusion of lost control. However, the car remains moving in a fixed direction, with a constant speed, and a low center of gravity. He then re-corrects the Audi’s positioning to face forward and continuously drive. If the scene was the current reality, wrecks could decrease, tight maneuvering capabilities might require less automobile-dedicated spaces, and parallel parking could become effortless. Goodyear is working toward a future where these technologies can possibly become standard in Chicago, Illinois by the year 2035.

Goodyear's Eagle-360 Tire Concept

Signature Doors

One of the strongest focal points of the Audi RSQ are the rear-hinged doors that open upward. This car was shown to the public in an exotic car era where brand signature doors were making a resurgence in popularity. Lamborghini brought us their classic Scissor Doors. Koenigsegg gave us their patented Dihedral Synchro-Helix Doors. Butterfly and Aston Martin’s Swan Doors became more popular in conversation. Also, Gullwings continue to live on. Although Audi has stuck with standard doors up until today, the impact of that movie car is seen in the creativity that direct and indirect competitors have showcased in their transportation design. As suicide doors become a norm, from Mazda RX8s to BMW i3s, there is great hope in EV automotive design never getting boring.

The Audi R8's Success

Iron Man (2008), 17 Again (2009), Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (2009), and multiple other movies, television series, and music videos have featured the Audi R8. This halo car by Audi has proven itself to be a fan favorite since its initial public appearances. CarGurus charts suggest an upswing in the value of Audi R8s in mid-2020. For various model years, many of the prices in 2017 were matched with the same general price ranges of 2022 after depreciation of these Audis turned into appreciation. Audi announced that the final year of production for the Audi R8 is 2023, and speculation on a successor is limited. However, we do have proof of the Audi RSQ’s influence on the Audi R8’s success, because of the animated film Spies in Disguise (2019) starring both Will Smith and the Audi RSQ reimagined. What else can better serve as both a sneak peek of an R8 successor, while flexing on Audi’s calculated success?

2023-05-28T16:05:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd