SAIC Audi E5 Sportback Upgraded with Momenta's Reinforcement Learning Model, Enabling Advanced Driver Assistance Features

On April 2, SAIC Audi announced that the panoramic driver assistance system of its E5 Sportback model has been upgraded with a new large reinforcement learning model developed by Momenta. The vehicle now supports roundabout navigation, ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) passage (enabled via OTA updates), three-point turns, game-theory-based driving scenarios, detour maneuvers, mixed pedestrian-vehicle environments, and over 300 parking assistance scenarios. Additional OTA-enabled customizable features include parking preference, parking orientation, and parking speed. The E5 Sportback is the first model under SAIC Audi’s AUDI brand, scheduled for market launch in September 2025. Built on the Advanced Digitized Platform co-developed by SAIC and Audi, it will be offered in both rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive variants, with a starting price of RMB 235,900. Exterior design follows the styling language of the AUDI E concept car, featuring a fastback silhouette with a drag coefficient of 0.252 Cd and six exterior color options. The front and rear lighting clusters incorporate a total of 942 LED units, creating dynamic welcome light effects through nearly 2,000 triangular elements. Inside the cabin, a 59-inch panoramic display spans the dashboard, complemented by a “Smart Island” shortcut touch panel integrating physical scroll wheels and touch controls. The infotainment system is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip. The intelligent driving system combines “Audi Standard Driving DNA” with an end-to-end flywheel large model architecture. The vehicle is equipped with 27 sensors in total—including one LiDAR unit, three millimeter-wave radars, twelve ultrasonic sensors, and eleven cameras—and features NVIDIA Orin-X chips to deliver advanced driver assistance across urban roads, highways, and automated parking scenarios. In terms of performance, single-motor variants deliver peak outputs of 220 kW and 300 kW, respectively. Dual-motor models offer combined outputs of 386 kW and 579 kW, achieving a 0–100 km/h acceleration time as quick as 3.4 seconds. Built on an 800V high-voltage platform, the E5 Sportback can be equipped with a CATL-supplied 100 kWh battery pack and comes standard with a heat pump system across all trims, delivering a maximum CLTC-rated range of 773 kilometers.