The updated 2021 Audi Q5 is the carmaker’s first model to feature their next-generation OLED taillights, which claim to offer improved road safety and a personalized light signature.
With the new generation OLED technology, Audi has become the first carmaker to digitize the taillights of a series-production vehicle.
The new OLED technology basically turns the new Q5’s taillights into a blank canvas, allowing them to not only offer the classic signal functions but to communicate with other road users for improved safety.
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“Up to now, we have been using OLED segmentation with the Audi TT RS and A8 for designing signature lighting. This has changed with the Q5,” says OLED technology project manager Dr. Werner Thomas. “Here the taillights turn into a kind of display on the outer shell, which will provide us with ample opportunities and prospects in terms of design, personalization, communication, and safety going forward.”
The 2021 Audi Q5 with the new digital OLED taillights will also feature a proximity detection system; when another road user approaches a stationary Q5 from the rear within less than two meters, all the OLED segments in the taillights light up as a warning. Audi is also working on adding predefined warning symbols in its new taillights, which is subject to legislative approval.
Customers who’ll opt for the 2021 Audi Q5’s digital OLED taillights will also be given a choice of three light signatures, including different animation effects on the coming home/leaving home functions. What this means is that you will choose what kind of dance your trick taillights will perform, but the technology is definitely going to offer even more in the near future.