Audi and its Chinese partner SAIC are opening a new technology center in Shanghai. It will be the main development hub for AUDI, the separate brand Audi sells only in China. Around 300 staff will take future models from first concept to readiness for series production, with an emphasis on driver assistance and AI-based in-car features.
Audi is moving more of its China development work into the country itself. The new AUDI Innovation & Technology Center (AITC) in Shanghai, set up with joint-venture partner SAIC, will lead development of all China-specific vehicles for the AUDI brand. That brand is sold only in China and is separate from the four-ring Audi models sold there.
The company says the center will oversee each future model from the initial vehicle concept through to series production readiness. Audi states three aims: shorter development cycles, a closer focus on what Chinese customers want, and greater competitiveness in what it calls the world’s largest automotive market.
Engineering from Germany, digital work from China
According to Audi, the AITC is built around closer co-innovation and joint development. It brings together Audi’s engineering expertise and SAIC’s digital innovation capabilities. The manufacturer says that working closely within China’s tech ecosystem, and with local partners, lets it develop solutions designed specifically for that market.
Around 300 people will work at the center. Audi describes the organisation as agile and innovation-driven, with short development cycles. Matthias Pfister is General Manager of the AITC, and Shan Yunwei is Deputy General Manager.
Driver assistance and an AI-powered cabin
The center’s work will focus on two areas: advanced driver assistance systems and a new, AI-powered in-cabin experience. Audi says artificial intelligence will enable, among other things, multimodal interaction, agentic capabilities and a new level of personalisation for Chinese premium customers.
To that end, the AITC is working with what Audi calls a leading Chinese AI and cloud platform. The aim is to explore building its AI models into the vehicle architecture from an early stage of development. Audi has not named the partner.
The next Advanced Digitized Platform
The AITC team will also develop the next generation of the Advanced Digitized Platform, which future AUDI models will use. As a result, the center’s work will shape the technical base of the brand’s upcoming cars as well as their software and interior features.
What it means
In China, buyers increasingly judge premium cars on software, connectivity and driver assistance, and domestic brands bring new models to market quickly. Placing a development hub of this size in Shanghai, together with a local partner, suggests Audi wants to match that pace instead of adapting models developed elsewhere.
Audi has not given a timeline for the first models developed by the AITC.
Source: www.audi.com