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chromas [soylentnews.org] writes:

From CIO [cio.com]:

It’s not the usual type of vehicle you expect to see unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, but on Monday Audi showed off a lunar rover developed with its assistance by a team of private scientists in pursuit of Google’s Lunar Xprize.

The Audi Lunar Quattro rolled onto the stage at the beginning of the German automaker’s news conference.

The rover has a large 300-square-centimeter solar panel across the top that recharges the Lithium Ion batteries. The wheels are electrically driven and can turn through 360 degrees. Its top speed is 3.6 kilometers (2 miles) per hour.

From Slashgear [slashgear.com]:

Audi's biggest contribution to this project may be the lightweight nature of the beast. The wheels on this rover are made of 3D-printed aluminum, which allows them to be large, yet light. Compared to past models made by Audi, these wheels alone save the machine 200g (that's per wheel, mind you).

That much weight will add up quick, says Audi, as it'll cost 80K Euro (around $87k USD) per kilo of payload for each rover to make this mission happen.

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