Jason Statham, your car is ready: Audi’s A8 L Security is ‘the most secure Audi ever’

By Andrew Hard Published September 8, 2015

The defensive capabilities of armored cars are identified under several levels of protection, ranging from the handgun-resistant VR 4 all the way up to VR 9, the most stringent standard available for civilian vehicles. With VR 9 ballistic resistance, a car can absorb 7.62 x 51mm ammunition, which is the same projectile fired from the belt-fed M60 machine gun.

If you order a new Audi A8 L Security, that’s exactly the type of protection you’ll get.

The well-equipped luxury sedan has just been revealed ahead of its public debut at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, and it’s been dubbed “the most secure Audi ever” by its manufacturer. To accomplish this, Audi has fitted the standard A8 L with aramide fabrics (similar to Kevlar), special aluminum alloys, run-flat tires, and hot-formed steel armor. The additions not only bring the new car past its predecessor’s VR 7 rating, they also meet the Explosive Resistance Vehicle standards that were set in 2010.

Audi A8 L Security — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Any car has vulnerabilities, but Audi has gone to great lengths to shore them up with this sleek and safe people-carrier. Each order is supervised by the brand from start to finish, and many of the components are made in a secure and top-secret factory. For added peace of mind, there’s an armored communications box in the luggage compartment, selective door unlocking, and an intercom system for communicating with those outside the vehicle — friendly or not. Features like an emergency exit, a fire extinguisher system, and an emergency fresh air ventilator can be added as well.

The A8 L Security is more than capable of eluding baddies with pure driving dynamics as well, because its quattro system makes it the only factory-armored luxury sedan available with all-wheel drive. Two engines are available — a 4.0-liter biturbo V8 with 435 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque and a 6.3-liter W12 engine with 500 hp and 461 lb-ft.

There’s a bit of added heft with the armor and such, but Audi says the vehicle can still handle a maximum payload of 1,322 pounds. That’s the power of power. The beefed-up A8 is available to order now and is scheduled for delivery in spring 2016.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Andrew first started writing in middle school and hasn't put the pen down since. Whether it's technology, music, sports, or…

Cars

Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs

2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time. The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.

Cars

Waymo faces questions about its use of onboard cameras for AI training, ads targeting

Two people exit a Waymo taxi.

In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.

Cars

Waymo’s driverless cars are about to begin an overseas adventure

Waymo Jaguar I-Pace

Waymo’s autonomous cars are about to appear on streets outside of the U.S. for the first time.

The company on Wednesday announced on social media that its autonomous cars will be driving onto the streets of Tokyo, Japan, “soon,” with some reports suggesting the rollout will begin as early as next week.