Audi RS Q e-tron’s Cockpit Looks Straight Out Of An Airplane

We can go hours on end about how modern-day race cars, including Formula One, have cockpits that can well rival a fighter jet, with all the buttons and knobs spread across the steering wheel. It seems like the Audi RS Q e-tron Dakar racer is no different, with the cabin looking quite...complex, almost straight out of a fighter airline. 

Here’s how it works.

While the driver’s main role, of course, is largely the same (that is, to drive the off-roader as quickly as possible), they now benefit from not requiring a manual transmission. That’s because it is an electrified model with an internal combustion engine acting as a motor generator for the battery. The energy is distributed to the electric motors, which then provide propulsion. That said, there’s a lot of information they have access to. For starters, there are eight buttons on the steering wheel that control the horn, speed limiter, windshield wipers, and data entries in the software. 

Behind the steering wheel is a digital display, which gives one information about tyre pressures, the direction of travel (forward, neutral, and reverse), and warnings about imminent shutdown or other snags. There are also two displays mounted closer to the windshield, with one acting as a compass and the other displaying the speed at any given point.  

Move towards the center of the dash, and there’s a display that provides information on brake balance, the brake-by-wire system, and various other details. But the highlight reel is below the display -- a switch panel featuring 24 buttons! They’re freely assignable to control functions like preselected maximum speeds, AC, and individual functions that can be turned on/off should the need be. Here’s where the co-driver comes into the picture, responsible for operating these functions and keeping the car running on sand dunes at speeds of up to 170kmph.  

The co-driver also has access to two tablets placed up front -- one is the rally’s digital roadbook (to show the way through the terrains) and the other gets GPS navigation that only confirms that the team has driven through one of the digital waypoints.  

The 2022 Dakar rally will be held in Saudi Arabia, covering an 8375km-long stretch (4275km will comprise special stages). Flag-off is in Ha’il on January 1, and the rally ends in Jeddah on January 14.