Audi’s e-tron division has been working feverishly the past few years, offering up a series of concepts that tackle the probable next-phase EV reality—the Q4 SUV, which is headed to production sometime in the next year—and the outer limits of ‘what if…?’, most acutely realized in the flash of the PB18 hypercar.

The AI series of autonomous rides from the division has thus far tended to keep to the conservative end of that spectrum. Back in the spring, we covered the automaker’s AI:ME personal autonomous transport (acronym PAT; you read it here first), an urban and commuter solution designed for grid integration, and featuring a lounge-like interior belying its modest, subcompact size. But this month, the company augmented its AI series of concepts with the AI:Trail, and it certainly qualifies as a more creative daydream entry.

Like the AI:ME, the AI:Trail is intended to realize the full potential of AI: more free time for humans (though how we’ll find purpose and satisfaction in that open landscape of liberated time, no one can say). So, like the AI:ME, the overland rig is designed like a glassy living room on wheels. It carries all the off-the-grid appeal of a dog-eared copy of The Whole Earth Catalog, but as far as it travels in this direction it seems to fall a bit short: once it’s off the grid and bushwhacking, it needs a driver. And then there’s the fact that the gear rack on the roof should be replaced with a large super-capacity solar panel in clear glass; when dreaming, go the distance.

But all-terrain it is. The concept’s 33” wheels give it 13.4” of clearance. It can wade through over one and a half feet of water, and it automatically compensates in the most acute and rapid manner for changes in terrain, and for avoiding obstacles and dangerous situations.

The AI:Trail won’t be in showrooms in the next few years. With its far-flung visuals and tech, this concept is certainly a ‘what if’ reconnoiter. But an interesting one.