2018 Audi S5 Sportback Virtual Cockpit

2018 Audi S5 Sportback interior shot, featuring Audi's new Virtual Cockpit instrument panel.

Taken with a Samsung S6 Edge. Today I borrowed my Dad's S5 Sportback to run some errands and took a shot of the driver's office space. The car features the new Audi Virtual Cockpit, which is a fully digital instrument cluster in place of the usual analog gauges. The screen in front of the driver can be customized to keep the tach front and centre, with secondary info like maps, media, or mileage info on either side. Or the tach and speedo can be moved to the bottom corners, with the central area taken up by maps or other info.

It's a fun and functional feature that will no doubt be featured on many future vehicles from many manufacturers. However, I think this particular style of setup, which closely mimics traditional instrument clusters with a short, wide screen in a recessed binnacle, will soon be replaced with larger screens not constrained by the traditional binnacle like this one is. We are already seeing this in the new Tesla Model 3, which features a very large central display that extends towards the driver and features driver's info on the left side of the large screen (for left hand drive vehicles).