The world’s first Audi Q9 makes use of a digital OLED panel with a curved design
The brand new Audi Q9 marks the manufacturing debut of a world-first expertise. For the primary time within the automotive trade, three-dimensional curved digital OLED panels are getting used. Third technology digital OLED expertise opens new potentialities for security and communication.
The Audi Q9 is thus a milestone within the growth of Audi lighting expertise, the place the OLED success story started ten years in the past. As the one automaker to repeatedly advance OLED expertise, Audi has remodeled it from an modern mild supply to an clever digital communication car.
Necessary information about Audi Q9 lighting
- World first: The primary three-dimensional curved digital OLED panel utilized in a mass-produced automotive.
- The curved digital OLED panel exactly follows the contours of the car and improves lateral visibility.
- The service glass of digital OLED panels is simply 0.1 millimeters thick.
- Extremely-thin glass expertise permits bending radii of as much as 200 millimeters.
- The third technology digital OLED expertise options 512 segments distributed throughout 6 giant digital OLED panels.
- The most important OLED panel in Audi historical past: a curved outer panel with 99 segments, a center panel with 84 segments and an inside panel with 73 segments.
- Communication lights contribute to enhancing site visitors security.
- New static, lively and semi-active digital mild signatures with 3D results.
- 10 years of OLED experience in manufacturing autos.
- Superior flip indicators that permit clear communication with the car’s environment.
- Digital matrix LED headlights with the most recent micro-LED expertise for clever lighting help.
World premiere: Curved digital OLED expertise units new requirements
Audi Q9 is the primary Audi mannequin to make use of a digital OLED panel in a curved design
That is made potential by modern ultra-thin glass expertise. The service glass of an OLED panel is simply 0.1 millimeter thick, which is about the identical thickness as a human hair. This permits the panels to bend as much as a radius of as much as 200 millimeters and observe the contours of the automotive physique.
Three-dimensional design not solely permits for brand spanking new design choices, but additionally affords practical advantages. By inserting the OLED within the outer space of the hind lights, the sunshine can also be seen from wider lateral viewing angles.
Improved lateral visibility straight contributes to street security. Communication lights with built-in warning symbols of their respective rear mild signatures can present extra visible warnings to different street customers of an accident or fault location.
Curved digital OLED panels are designed and validated to satisfy outlined automotive necessities for sturdiness, uniformity, and distinction. This expertise combines modern design with the options of OLED expertise, which Audi has repeatedly improved over the previous decade.
10 years of OLED manufacturing experience: Audi continues to evolve its expertise
The success story started in 2016 with the Audi TT RS. Audi grew to become the world’s first automotive producer to introduce natural light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) as a mass-produced rear mild expertise, ushering in a brand new period in automotive lighting design. Space mild sources allow unprecedented uniformity, excessive distinction, and dynamic lighting situations.
Simply 4 years later, the following evolutionary step adopted. In 2020, the digitalization of OLED expertise within the Audi Q5 makes it potential for the primary time to manage particular person segments and personalize the signature of the hind lights. Prospects can select from quite a lot of digital mild signatures and individually configure the lighting design for the rear of their car.
With second-generation digital OLED expertise, Audi continues its technological developments with the 2024 Audi Q6 e-tron. The variety of individually controllable segments has been elevated tenfold and new security options have been added.
Visitors security has additionally been additional improved with communication lights. A warning image built-in into the hind lights can present an early warning to different street customers of essential conditions resembling breakdowns, emergency braking or the scene of an accident.
This technology additionally consists of the proximity show perform first launched within the Audi Q5, which prompts all digital OLED segments to attract the eye of different street customers after they method a stopped car.
Ten years after OLED was first launched, the Audi Q9 and the third technology of digital OLED expertise take the expertise to its most superior stage. Emotional design and clever security options mix to create a singular model expertise, day or night time.
The Audi Q9 thus marks a brand new milestone for the way forward for automotive lighting.
third Technology Digital OLED Expertise: Extra Expression, Extra Security, Extra Customization
The third-generation digital OLED hind lights of the brand new Audi Q9 function a complete of 512 digital segments organized in six panels.
The world’s first curved digital OLED panel with 99 segments can also be the most important OLED panel Audi has ever utilized in a manufacturing automotive.
The massive variety of segments permits new personalization choices. As much as 8 digital mild signatures can be found on the back and front.
For the primary time, digital mild signatures can now be displayed not solely as static or totally lively signatures, but additionally as semi-active signatures. This allows expressive lighting designs with engaging three-dimensional results, particularly at night time.
Right here, digital OLED expertise affords necessary benefits. As OLEDs are space mild sources, they permit significantly homogeneous lighting designs and situations with spectacular three-dimensional results.
Within the third technology, the hind lights have turn into an much more distinctive component of Audi vehicles than ever earlier than.
Digital lighting expertise: mild as a method of communication between the car and its environment
With third-generation digital OLED expertise, Audi is increasing the best way autos talk with their environment. Back lights are more and more changing into clever exterior shows.
Together with digital OLED hind lights and digital matrix LED headlights, the Audi Q9 is provided with an clever lighting system that actively contributes to security and permits simpler communication between the car and its environment.
superior flip sign
Due to the superior flip indicators launched for the primary time within the Audi Q7, the Audi Q9 actively participates in site visitors.
It initiatives stylized and dynamic flip indicators onto the street when turning or altering lanes at night time. This permits pedestrians, cyclists and different street customers to see the car’s meant path change sooner.
Digital matrix LED headlights with micro-LED expertise
The digital matrix LED headlights of the brand new Audi Q9 use micro-LED modules with 25,600 particular person micro-LEDs in a module roughly 13 millimeters large.
Every micro-LED is roughly 40 micrometers in measurement and might straight mission high-resolution mild photos at night time.
This permits the system to light up the street and modify the sunshine distribution with significantly excessive precision and distinction, which is especially useful throughout dangerous climate.
Gentle information options embrace:
- Lane lighting with directional lighting.
- Directional lighting on rural roads.
- Lane lighting with flip sign projection on highways.
Along with the low beams, lane lighting illuminates the lane during which the car is touring, and a projected directional mild path actively signifies the car’s place inside the lane.
In tight development zones, the system can robotically modify mild distribution and switch off lane lighting in favor of directional lighting to facilitate lane centering.
Help features are solely out there inside system limits and help the motive force.
Historical past of OLED expertise at Audi
Skilled assertion: The way forward for automotive lighting
For Audi, mild means above all security: seeing and being seen. Digitalization opens up utterly new potentialities for additional strengthening street security.
The Audi Q9’s curved digital OLED expertise impressively demonstrates the potential of this expertise. It combines design freedom, personalization and communication with the car’s environment to a brand new degree.
Our imaginative and prescient is to steadily remodel mild into an clever technique of communication, making interplay with autos and their environment even safer and extra intuitive.
Stefan Berlitz, Head of Lighting Growth, AUDI AG
Ceaselessly requested questions (FAQ)
How does Audi’s OLED (natural light-emitting diode) expertise work?
Natural LEDs are semiconductor mild sources that function on the precept of electroluminescence.
In contrast to conventional LEDs, OLEDs don’t use a daily crystal lattice made from inorganic supplies. As an alternative, they’re composed of stacked layers of natural molecules.
When a voltage is utilized, the electrons and holes recombine and emit mild.
How does Audi use OLED expertise?
The person layers of Audi OLED emit deep crimson mild and are designed to satisfy particular necessities for mild shade, brightness and sturdiness in automotive functions.
Audi was the primary automotive producer to supply segmented OLED expertise and has been growing the expertise for 10 years to allow the hind lights to configure their look and talk with the car’s environment, thereby contributing to improved street security.
What are some great benefits of digital OLED expertise?
The distinction between digital OLED mild sources and “traditional” OLEDs lies within the variety of individually controllable segments and the way they’re organized.
In contrast to the primary technology OLED hind lights, the place every lighting perform was provided through a separate cable, the digital OLED hind lights are related to the car’s electrical system management unit through a bus system.
This allows considerably extra performance.
Some great benefits of digital OLED expertise are:
- Excessive distinction and wonderful visibility.
- Achieves excessive uniformity and even mild distribution.
- Gaps between particular person segments are minimized.
- Excessive precision resulting from individually controllable segments.
- Elevated flexibility in automotive lighting design.
- Extremely-thin construction with floor mild supply built-in into a light-weight component simply 1 millimeter thick.
How is an OLED mild supply totally different from an OLED show?
Natural EL shows utilized in smartphones and different units can show any shade via digital management. Nevertheless, it can’t produce the legally required brightness ranges for hind lights or brake lights.
The person OLED segments developed by Audi for the automotive’s hind lights might be individually managed and repeatedly dimmed.
In comparison with segmented OLED, the show has extra pixels, all the similar form and measurement.
The principle distinction is their use. Whereas OLED shows are designed to breed detailed visible content material, Audi’s automotive OLED mild sources are developed to satisfy particular lighting necessities resembling brightness, visibility, and sturdiness.
This permits Audi to make use of individually managed OLED segments for a configurable rear mild signature and visible communication with different street customers.
Supply: AUDI AG, International Communications & Company Affairs, October 23, 2026.
Gear and specs consult with the mannequin vary supplied in Germany and are topic to vary.
Audi Q9 SUV TDI 220 kW: Mixed gasoline consumption: 8.0–7.4 l/100 km; mixed CO₂ emissions: 209 to 194 g/km. CO₂ class: G.
