Audi to Offer Digital Matrix LED Headlights in 2021
Audi will be offering Digital Matrix LED (DML) headlights as optional equipment in 2021 e-tron and e-tron Sportback models, the automaker announced.
This is the first time DML headlights have been mass-produced for a production vehicle, Audi says.
Comprised of 1.3 million micromirrors per headlight, DML headlights essentially operate like movie projectors, emitting tiny unique particles or adaptable light. At market introduction, this lighting technology offers a selection of five different welcome/leaving animations when the vehicle is parked, each with unique motion graphics and text selected through a vehicle’s MMI touchscreen display.
Beyond the welcome/leaving animations currently available for U.S. vehicles, the full feature set of DML headlights includes:
- A 50-meter “light carpet” that is designed to keep light within the driver’s lane and extends the carpet left or right when changing lanes and helps to avoid a “blinding” effect for oncoming traffic
- Low-beam curved lighting that bends below oncoming traffic and can help illuminate people or objects on the side of the road, which are otherwise difficult to detect
- Electrostatically controlled micromirrors that can adjust light beam pixels up to 5,000 times per second
- On-ground light arrows that place the vehicle’s tires within its lane
- Although the total functionality of Digital Matrix LED headlights is not yet fully available in the U.S., the brand continues to work with government officials and authorities in an effort to do so for U.S. consumers.
