Audi Winter Experience - Objective criteria support subjective driving tests

An important part of the test drives, which are important for determining the driving characteristics in winter conditions, takes place in the bitter cold of northern Sweden. Here, the developers' subjective driving tests meet objective criteria that they themselves have defined in advance. Use cases, such as emergency braking in winter conditions, form the basis of the test drives. If the developers want to tune and assess controlled, i.e. predictable and stable, driving behavior, objective ratings such as immediate deceleration and precise steering support the tuning work. In turn, directional stability, steering effort and deceleration buildup are criteria for an assessment system for ABS braking from different speeds on snow and ice. The results of the tuning work culminate in an assessment of the driving behavior, which the developers document in the form of a network diagram - a pattern that is applied model-specifically to all Audi models. The basis for this is how the vehicle and its individual characteristics are positioned and the relevant driving maneuvers and development philosophy are defined. An Audi can be recognized by these driving characteristics: Steering response, linkage behavior, traction and steering characteristics. The advantages of quattro are clearly visible in this way: the Audi all-wheel drive stands out from the average competition thanks to its particularly pronounced driving characteristics in terms of traction in curves and straight-ahead driving, as well as in steering-in and load change behavior.