Illustration of a woman, a road situation and control elements in the vehicle

&Audi – An initiative thinking beyond

The mission – beyond AI

Artificial intelligence will fundamentally change our lives, our mobility and our world of work. The mission of the initiative &Audi is to contribute to the responsible use of new technological possibilities. It works at the communicative interface between development engineers, scientists and the public. It connects international opinion leaders and key actors in the field of AI, thus raising awareness that our future can and should be actively shaped in the age of AI.

“SocAIty” Study 2021

  

Autonomous Driving in the Field of Tension Between Technological Progress & Social Acceptance

From the appropriate legal framework to ethical issues and digital responsibility: The &Audi Initiative's "SocAIty" Study 2021 sheds light on the overall social dimension of autonomous driving. The current study is intended to contribute to the public debate on autonomous driving and its responsible use in the mobility of the future.

Focus topics

For widespread acceptance of autonomous driving, both the technological maturity of the driving systems and the social dimension are of great importance: In addition to the legal and political framework, people's attitudes are crucial for new technologies such as autonomous driving to become established. Accordingly, the &Audi initiative focuses on three topics: Law, ethics and data.

Pedestrians on the road

Law – Understanding the Evolutionary Interplay Between Legislation & Progress

The chapter "Law and Progress" addresses, among other things, the main challenges and hurdles, and provides possible solutions to meet them in an international context.

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Cockpit of an Audi concept car

Ethics – Building a Relationship of Trust Between Society & Software

"Trust relationship between man and machine" takes a look at the ethical dimension of autonomous driving and provides answers to the moral dilemma of autonomous driving. The initiative also addresses the question of how fears can be reduced and trust in the technology can be built.

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Pedestrians around a grey Audi

Data – Balancing Performance & Protection

The chapter "Networked Security" addresses relevant data protection and security aspects that networking and data collection can bring to autonomous driving.

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Audi e-tron GT quattro: Power consumption (combined*) in kWh/100 km: 21.6–19.6CO₂ emissions (combined*) in g/km: 0
Information on fuel/power consumption and CO₂ emissions with ranges depending on the selected equipment of the vehicle.
Only consumption and emission values according to WLTP and not according to NEDC are available for the vehicle.

Audi e-tron GT quattro: Power consumption (combined*) in kWh/100 km: 21.6–19.6CO₂ emissions (combined*) in g/km: 0
Information on fuel/power consumption and CO₂ emissions with ranges depending on the selected equipment of the vehicle.
Only consumption and emission values according to WLTP and not according to NEDC are available for the vehicle.

Audi study on autonomous driving: The ways of data

Initiatives 09/14/2022

Audi study on autonomous driving: The ways of data

An Audi study is exploring all aspects of autonomous driving. In addition to legal and ethical questions, these also include data protection and data security.

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The vehicle shown is a concept vehicle that is not available as a production model.

The vehicle shown is a concept vehicle that is not available as a production model.

The &Audi study

The “SocAIty” study 2021: The most important insights

Initiatives 12/02/2021

The “SocAIty” study 2021: The most important insights

From the appropriate legal framework to ethical questions to digital responsibility: the 2021 “SocAIty” study from the &Audi Initiative examines the overall societal dimension of autonomous driving.

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Autonomous driving projects at Audi

For Audi, autonomous driving is a key technology that can make traffic safer and mobility more comfortable and inclusive for customers. Together with the Volkswagen Group’s software company CARIAD, Audi is working on introducing that technology in the second half of this decade. Even today, various applications show how autonomous driving will change mobility and can offer more driving comfort and improved traffic flow when, for example, vehicles and infrastructure communicate with each other or a vehicle independently drives to a space in a parking garage. And in Wuxi, China, Audi is not only conducting research on the exchange of information between vehicles, pedestrians, and infrastructure, but already testing fully automated driving on public roads as well.

Network & events

Since 2015, Audi has built up an interdisciplinary network with international AI experts from science and industry. Meet-Ups, workshops and conferences bring software engineers together with philosophers, Start-up entrepreneurs with psychologist and bioethicists with lawyers. Experts from all Audi business areas come together with external thought leaders and work on answers to questions that move the public.

Experts are discussing at the Berlinale 2019

Berlinale 2019: when artificial intelligence starts writing scripts

What is artificial intelligence (AI) capable of? Will it be able to write a movie script one day?  Experts discussed this and other questions at the Berlinale 2019. 

 

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When artificial intelligence starts writing scripts

In his short film “It has to be lived once and dreamed twice,” which was nominated for the Berlinale Shorts, video artist Rainer Kohlberger gives us the first proof that it might be possible. Because: AI created the images in his science fiction film. The script, however, was still created by Kohlberger himself. Torsten Schön, data scientist at Audi, is sure that an AI film script will soon be reality: “An algorithm can read millions of script samples and learn from them.”

So AI can do it, but should it? The members of the discussion panel have differing opinions. But the initiative &Audi’s guiding principle might give us one possible answer: the technological possibilities should be used responsibly.

We want to contribute to the use of AI in ways that are beneficial to us as individuals and as a society.

Barbara Wege, project manager, initiative &Audi

What opportunities does AI offer? Experts from the film and automotive industries provided answers to these and other questions at the Berlinale Open House.

What opportunities does AI offer? Experts from the film and automotive industries provided answers to these and other questions at the Berlinale Open House.

Barbara Wege in conversation

AI4people 2018: Europe’s role in the use of AI

How can we create a society in which artificial intelligence (AI) brings humans forward? To that end, Audi is involved in AI4People, the first global forum for the ethical use of AI in Europe.

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Europe’s role in the use of AI

At the “Towards a Good AI Society Summit” in the European parliament in Brussels, the forum presented a 20-point plan for a responsible AI society. The focus was on the coordination of European AI research and the need to increase awareness of questions surrounding responsible use of new technologies in the minds of developers, lawmakers, and the public.

Audi used the summit to connect with experts from various industries. The more consistent the interdisciplinary discourse on the topic of AI, the more effectively AI can be used to benefit society. The participants from the fields of science, economics, and politics all agreed: AI must be used to benefit people.

Luciano Floridi discusses with Barbara Wege
For a society in which AI advances people: Luciano Floridi, Director of the Digital Ethic Lab at the University of Oxford, discusses next steps with Barbara Wege, project lead of the initiative &Audi.
It’s not merely about the question of what is legally acceptable, but about what is ethically preferable.

Luciano Floridi, director of the Digital Ethics Lab and founder of AI4People

Z2X Festival 2018

Z2X Festival 2018: the duties of artificial intelligence in the working world of the future

What can we do now to make sure that our AI colleagues will be team players? At the Z2X festival in Berlin, this key question was discussed by young visionaries between the ages of 20 and 29 and representatives of the initiative &Audi.

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The duties of artificial intelligence in the working world of the future

The topics ranged from new paths for education and professional development, to financial security, to the question of who is responsible for the actions of AI entities. There were a wide range of responses: more programming courses, a TÜV certification for ethics, and a European model for the working world of the future.

The innovative young thinkers have a concrete image of their working life in the year 2035 and the role that AI will play in it: AI should take over administrative tasks and monotonous work, giving human employees more room for creativity. It’s very much in line with the credo of the initiative &Audi: “AI should make our lives more human — but whether that happens is in our own hands.”

It was exciting for us to see that many of the participants share our belief that the social market economy can be a model for the future of the working world.

Barbara Wege, project manager, initiative &Audi

Miklos Kiss talking to Missy Cummings and Iyad Rahwan

AI conference at MIT 2017: building confidence in artificial intelligence

Globally, over 90% of all car accidents are caused by human error. How can this number be dramatically reduced? At the artificial intelligence conference at MIT in Cambridge, the focus was on driving safety — and the role that artificial intelligence (AI) will play in it.

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Building confidence in artificial intelligence

Self-driving cars have the potential to make it safer to drive on our streets. At the same time, public opinion reacts very strongly when automated cars are involved in accidents. “We need to win people over to artificial intelligence emotionally and rationally,” says Miklos Kiss, who works in pre-development of automated driving at Audi. And that means that we, as a society, need to be educated.

That’s where the initiative &Audi comes in. Its approach is to tackle the obstacles on the road to autonomous driving together with stakeholders from throughout our society. The goal is to create reasonable expectations in society as to the possibilities and limitations of technology — which will create trust.

In the long run, automated driving will save thousands of human lives. For the technology to reach its potential, people need to put their trust in it.

Miklos Kiss, pre-development of automated driving, Audi

Post-it "translation work for the public"

Workshop 2017: imagine that artificial intelligence is already behind the wheel in everyday life

Imagine that self-driving cars are omnipresent in our society. What exactly happened to get us to this point? Together with the initiative &Audi at Audi, twelve professional experts from various fields participated in this thought experiment.

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Imagine that artificial intelligence is already behind the wheel in everyday life

The participants considered the most difficult hurdle to be general acceptance in society: “People will have a much stronger emotional reaction when an accident is caused by a machine rather than a human,” says Kate Darling from the MIT Media Lab. The much-discussed “dilemma situation” has a hold on people.

The initiative &Audi has made it its goal to position the dilemma debate within the overall context of the changes and challenges brought about by autonomous driving. To make that happen, an interdisciplinary dialogue between different areas of our society will be absolutely essential. And so the initiative &Audi will continue to push for this network, to that technology can be implemented in the best interest of individuals and of society.

It is very important to start discussions early on and to try to solve some of the problems before they occur

Kate Darling, robotics engineer from MIT Media Lab in Boston

Team

The project managers behind the initiative  &Audi are Barbara Wege and Saskia Lexen. Their common spirit: well-considered optimism for the future.

We focus on people and examine how technology can help us as individuals and as society to achieve our goals.

Barbara Wege, Project Manager, initiative &Audi

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