Promoting well-being inside your car

We all know it only too well: In an active life, the days are dominated by work and family. There is usually little time left for your own health and well-being. Only the daily commute in your car will give you some peace and quiet, if only for a short time. Be it on your way to work or even on a longer journey: The Audi active coach is designed to fill precisely this gap by enabling users of this service to make use of the time they spend in their car, to do something mindful, to give time and space to their current well-being and to develop habits to relax. As an integral part of daily life, the Audi active coach can help Audi drivers to pay more attention to their well-being when they are on the road.

The service offers a number of functions that have been developed specifically for the needs of Audi drivers. At check-in, users can select their mood (e.g. active, relaxed, happy) to get recommendations for suitable audio content from an extensive library. This content is divided into the following four categories: Mood Boosters, Soundscapes, Self Coaching and Breathing Exercises. All content is optimised for use while driving. In combination with the Apple iPhone, minutes of mindfulness can be collected for performing exercises that are stored in the Apple HealthKit. And with the Apple Watch, recording the heart rate during the course of the journey can provide helpful indications in case of deviations from the driver’s usual range. Audi drivers also have the option of using the Audi active coach at home, of course. This is where they may also complete exercises in the app, review their last journeys or mark their favourite exercises for the next route.

As Head of Digital Service Health & Wellbeing at Audi Business Innovation GmbH, Jessica Smetana is responsible for the Audi active coach. Five questions for Smetana about mindfulness while driving.

There are already countless health and mindfulness apps on the market. Is the Audi active coach just another service of this kind?
What sets our service apart from others is the customised content for Audi drivers and the integration with Apple CarPlay in the vehicle, which enables seamless use while driving. The combination of exercises for well-being and heart rate recording make the Audi active coach a special product on the market.


How can you use the heart rate recording feature while driving?
In principle, measuring your heart rate while driving is like measuring it while jogging. After recording, you can check when your personal heart rate zone was outside the normal range (which you define once in the app) and why this was the case. This is another way of how we want to increase awareness for your own well-being. By comparing the recorded route with the recorded heart rate, you may be given suggestions to change the route if your heart rate level is rising on a certain section of the route – possibly due to stress. And you can also have relaxing music or special exercises played on certain routes.

What kind of exercises? And to what effect?
If you are stressed, for example, you may select calming breathing exercises. In general, the Audi active coach helps drivers to regenerate, relax and concentrate. Ideally, users should develop an active routine with the exercises. All exercises are specially tailored to car journeys and are designed so as not to distract you from the journey. They are divided into four categories and help you to focus on your mood and energy level: Breathing Exercises, Self Coaching, Soundscapes and Mood Boosters.

Who created these special exercises?
The exercises in the Audi active coach were developed together with selected partners such as Calm, LUMEUS, brain.fm, LifeScore, onesome, Mindshine and Vocal Image. New partnerships are constantly being evaluated and developed in order to offer users the best possible experience and new content formats.

What are the technical requirements for using the Audi active coach?
The basic requirements are the Apple iPhone to download the Audi stage app (which contains the Audi active coach service) and an Audi vehicle with Audi connect compatibility. The Apple Watch is required for full use of all Audi active coach functions. Audi drivers not owning the Apple Watch, but a smartphone with an iOS operating system, can use the service without the Driving Insights function.