Audi has introduced the world’s first three-dimensionally curved digital OLED tail lights on the Q9 SUV, bringing improved visibility and new safety functions to its latest lighting technology.
The third-generation system uses six OLED panels containing 512 individually controlled segments, allowing the rear lights to display different patterns and warning symbols.
Unlike conventional flat OLED panels, the new units use glass just 0.1mm thick, allowing them to curve around the vehicle’s bodywork.
This makes the lights more visible from wider angles, particularly to road users approaching from the side.
The system can also display warning symbols to alert following traffic to accidents or breakdowns.
Audi has extended the technology to its digital Matrix LED headlights, which use 25,600 micro-LEDs in each module to control illumination more precisely.
The headlights can project directional signals onto the road, giving pedestrians and cyclists an earlier indication of the driver’s intentions.
Although the Q9 is primarily a combustion-engine SUV, the lighting technology has close links to Audi’s electric models.
The fully electric Q6 e-tron introduced second-generation digital OLED rear lights in 2024, with 360 individually controlled segments and the ability to display safety warnings.
That technology subsequently featured in the electric A6 e-tron range, alongside other Audi models.
The Q9’s curved panels represent the next development in a lighting programme that began with OLED tail lights on the TT RS in 2016.
