GPS navigation, satellite radio, MP3/ iPod connectivity... modern drivers demand a lot from their rides and— judging by Audi’s latest Swiss army knife of in-dash displays—carmakers are more than up for the task.

Audi’s 3G MMI (Third-Generation Multimedia Interface Navigation Plus System)—which will debut this fall on the 2011 A8—is one sweet piece of circuitry that can not only navigate you home and play your entire music library, it can also phone anyone in your address book (via hands-free Bluetooth), screen separate movies for your backseat passengers, and check ahead for traffic conditions and weather alerts. What’s more, the integrated system can also warn you of blind spots when making lane changes, adjust your headlight intensity to the surrounding terrain, and even alert you (via subtle steering-wheel vibration) should you inattentively cross over a highway lane marker.

The German car maker needed some help developing this cutting- edge display technology. “When Audi started developing the third-generation of its MMI system, it sought out the best technologies in Silicon Valley to produce leading-edge in-car graph- ics,” relates Audi Product Manager Anthony Foulk. “That led our engineers to NVIDIA and its outstanding graphics processors.” Processors that immedi- ately injected Xbox-level graphic horse- power into Audi’s 3G MMI system.

Overkill for a simple in-car navigation screen? Not when you consider it can also download and display Google Earth imagery in real time (using a built-in mobile phone SIM chip) and render nearby buildings and points of interest in full 3D. “One of the biggest advantages is the 3D graphics that allow recognizable representa- tions of landmarks, key buildings, and topography on the navigation maps,” Foulk explains. “The NVIDIA graphics processing technology helps make the stunning 3D display possible by allow- ing the rendering of crisp Google Earth images. This gives motorists a better sense of the surroundings on their routes than flat, one-dimensional map- ping has provided in the past.”

Drivers can interface with this HALishly clever onboard driving com- puter using an ergonomic touchpad located on the center console (roughly where an old-school gear lever would sit). You can tab through the system’s myriad displays—including naviga- tion, telephone, audio, vehicle func- tions, warning lights, and night-vision assistant—with a flick of the thumb, a finger-drawn alphanumeric character (MMI Touch), or voice prompt.

The 3G MMI Navigation Plus system features a 60GB hard drive with 20GB dedicated to the audio/ video jukebox. The MMI screen also displays album cover art for any iPod or MP3 music it accesses through the Audi music interface. Depending on the car model, the audio funnels through sound systems ranging from Audi’s standard six-speaker 180W system to a pricey Bang & Olufsen 19-speaker 1460W mobile concert hall.

As techy and too-cool-for-school as the current product is, Audi and NVIDIA recently announced a fourth- generation system at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show that’s powered by NVIDIA’s next-generation Tegra chip (see story, page 6) and is scheduled to debut in 2012. “Tegra will allow 3D visuals that are richer than ever, unmatched multimedia, and a complete web experience on a variety of devices,” states Foulk. Boasting a computer-on-chip with eight processors on a single die—including a Dual Core 1.0GHz CPU and GeForce 6–class GPU—the Tegra-bolstered 4G MMI sys- tem will likely keep Audi running at the sharp end of in-vehicle entertainment/ navigation for years.

NVIDIA processors already reside in all current 2010 Audi models, and the next-gen Tegra chip will power the entertainment and nav systems in all Audi vehicles starting in 2012—as well as other Volkswagen AG brands including Volkswagen, Bentley, Lam- borghini, SEAT, and SKODA at varying levels of functionality.