Audi AI:Trail Quattro electric off-road concept coming to Frankfurt

The latest teaser for a Frankfurt Motor Show concept comes to us from Audi. It’s called the Audi AI:Trail Quattro, and interestingly it’s not an autonomous luxury pod (at least, that’s not all it is) like so many other recent concepts, it’s a little off-roader. Audi has kept the details very close to its chest, as the only other detail it shared was that it’s electric. But the teaser image shows us quite a bit of the concept car.

The wheels and tires are pushed to the extreme edges, and it appears the tires aren’t blocked by any sort of bumper. That’s good because it means there’s basically no approach or departure angle to worry about when coming up to tall slopes, rocks, etc. The Ai:Trail also clearly takes advantage of the flexibility electric powertrains allow for packaging, as the passenger and cargo compartment spans nearly the whole length of the car; there’s no traditional nose section for an engine and such. The overall design also looks a little more rounded and exaggerated than Audi’s current crisp, edgy cars.

While this isn’t your usual type of autonomous vehicle concept, we suspect it will still have a high level of autonomy given the “AI” part of its name. It does at least look like it has a steering wheel, though, unlike the AIcon concept at the last Frankfurt show. We’ll certainly be interested to see all the details on the AI:Trail when it makes its debut next month.