Audi trials in-car Facebook and Twitter communication Audi is constantly striving to build cars that save ever greater quantities of fuel, so it is a natural progression for the Vorsprung durch Technik brand to offer its drivers a new online feature that helps them save money on the fuel itself. The new Fuel Prices service becomes available this month, initially for A3 and A3 Sportback models, as part of an enhanced version of the ‘Mobile Phone Preparation – High with Audi connect’ option. This further developed option will gradually be rolled out to the majority of models during 2013 – the TT and R8 will adopt it at a later date.  
The system consults an online database to list the cheapest filling stations in real time at the prevailing location, at the driver's destination or at a location of his or her choice. It even takes into account the type of fuel required. The driver can sort the overview list by price or by distance, and once a filling station has been selected one click is all that is required to set the selected filling station as a navigation destination.
The Fuel Prices feature is just one of several useful and informative components of the enhanced Audi connect option, which must also be combined with the hard disk-based Satellite Navigation Plus. The two optional items are available in the A3 as part of the cost-effective Technology Pack High with Audi connect, costing £1,795.
Audi connect is the collective term the brand uses to encompass all the technologies that connect the driver to the car, the Internet and the infrastructure. In its updated form this advanced interface not only delivers the new fuel prices function alongside more familiar services such as Google Maps, Google Street View, Audi traffic information online and Audi music stream, but also ‘Picturebook Navigation’, access to social media services such as Facebook and Twitter, the latest news, flight and train information and even a City Events ‘what’s on’ guide in specific towns and cities.
Picturebook Navigation enables the driver to store photos of destinations linked with geopositioning data in a “picture book” on a server. These can be the driver’s own photos or images from Google Maps Street View or the Internet community. The driver can then use the images to plot a route. The photos are loaded into the picture box either via SD card or via a myAudi account linked to the vehicle.
Facebook and Twitter communication in the car is made using preconfigured text modules which can be sent to customers, business partners, family members and friends. These can also include data such as the current location, if desired.
A myAudi account can be set up by visiting www.audi.co.uk and clicking on the myAudi link at the foot of the homepage. Alternatively, the same functionality is available in a free MMI connect app available for smartphones and other devices running Apple iOS6 and Android 4 operating systems.