Audi CEO Rupert Stadler sees digitalization as an historic task for society. He emphasized this fact in a speech on Tuesday at the Economic Conference organized by the Economic Council of the CDU. He pointed out that multiple challenges still exist in the field of transport infrastructure so that digital mobility technologies can fulfill their potential.
“Economics and politics must together shape the digital revolution,” demanded Stadler before the 2,500 participants in the Berlin Economic Conference. Cities will have to be just as intelligent as the cars of tomorrow. “75 percent of the infrastructure of the year 2050 has not yet been built. That’s a great opportunity for uniform standards in the operating system of the city of the future.”
As an example, Stadler cited the stop‑light online technology, with which an Audi calculates the optimal speed for a free flow: “If all the stop‑lights in Germany were already connected, we could reduce fuel consumption by 900 million liters a year, which means CO2 emissions would be reduced by more than million tons.”
Audi is offering benefits to cities also with piloted parking, by which drivers get out of their cars outside the parking garage: “The space required in the parking garage is reduced by one third, because no space is necessary for getting out of and into the car. In this way, cities will regain space, for parks for example.”
The Audi CEO regards defining the role of intelligent mobility in a modern society as an exciting challenge: “We need a shared social understanding of how we want to use technology for more safety, efficiency, sustainability and quality of life.”
