The Audi Ownership Experience in 2025

Imagine Audi cars in 2025. Technology has advanced, and self-driving cars are zooming down the streets. Cars are connected with each other and share information. Traditional car ownership by one person still exists, but car sharing and rentals are just as popular. How do these trends affect the user and the car ownership experience? And how can Audi remain a successful premium car manufacturer? To answer this question, Audi asked a joint team from Stanford and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) to design a feature that will improve the ownership experience in 2025 dramatically. Our team did extensive research in car sharing, connected cars, and autonomous vehicles, and interviewed Audi owners and employees to understand Audi as a brand.

Audi cars are defined by their iconic brand identity and cutting edge technology. Customers love their sporty, comfortable, and professional nature. Audi is also quick to set trends that other competitors copy (such as the LED headlights). When autonomous cars arrive on the road, how can Audi keep their sporty image with no one in the driver seat and continue to be a leader in the industry that other manufacturers should catch up to? During early prototyping phases, the area of autonomous driving turned out to be most promising and challenging, as this is a relatively new area which users are not familiar with, yet. Trust in autonomous cars is a particularly important issue, both from the passengers’ point of view and from other road users’ point of view. Passengers must be convinced that autonomous cars are safe, do not suffer from technical malfunctions, and do not put their lives at risk. Road users like pedestrians, cyclists and drivers must be able to anticipate the autonomous car’s behavior, in order to feel safe, to make interaction in everyday traffic situations more efficient, and to raise acceptance of autonomous cars among the population. Our system is designed to help humans understand what an autonomous car is thinking. This will increase trust in autonomous cars, and, ultimately, increase acceptance of autonomous cars among the population.