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This strangely carbuncular little thing is called the Pop.Up Next and it's the result of a joint collaboration between Audi, Italdesign and Airbus. In the simplest terms, it's a flying car of the future.
Described by the team behind it as an 'entirely electric, fully automatic concept for horizontal and vertical mobility', the Pop.Up Next is a vehicle conceived to transport people in cities, quickly and conveniently, via both road and air.
The two-seater pod, which gives the Pop.Up Next such a weird appearance when it's on its wheel-base, is designed to be attached to said 'car' module or to a flight module, in this case visualised as four rotors and clearly the part of the package for which Airbus was responsible.
For its part, Audi is supporting the project with know-how on battery technology and automation. Inside, the dominating feature of this land-and-air transport device is a 49-inch - yes, forty-nine - display, with interaction between the humans onboard and the AI controlling everything is carried out by speech and face recognition, eye-tracking and a touch function.
This year's model, seen at the Geneva Motor Show, is a refinement of the machine which made its first appearance at the same Swiss event a year ago.
Anything else?
Dr Bernd Martens, Audi board member for procurement and president of Italdesign, said: "Creativity is needed where new mobility concepts for cities and people's diverse needs are concerned. Italdesign is an incubator for innovative technologies and radical prototyping. Pop.Up Next is an ambitious vision that could permanently change our urban life in the future."
Joerg Astalosch, CEO of Italdesign, added: "Various players will define the rules of urban mobility in the future. We are proud to collaborate with Airbus, the leading company in the aerospace industry, to investigate solutions for future mobility."