Why Personalized Lighting Options in Vehicles are Important [Video Interview]

Everyone wants to feel the luxury and comfort of having something unique and customized to their preferences. In the latest video from this year’s International Symposium on Automotive Lighting (ISAL), experts from Audi discuss how digital OLED lighting technology can improve the passenger experience and open new business models by offering personalized automotive lighting. 

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Why are personalized lighting options in vehicles important? 

DR. MICHAEL KRUPPA:

Our vision: to have, let’s say, an exterior lighting design, which is more like a display, which is having chances for modifying easily to really have a focus on our wishes from our designers. There will be a limitation. We don’t have to go for 4K ultra high-definition resolution, we don’t need that. We need a certain amount of symbols and shapes and segments we can turn on and we can turn off to really give everybody the chance to make the car your own, but still maintain a clear symbol size or signature, which is making clear, it’s an Audi. So it’s your Audi. You should be proud on that one. You should be able to play around with that. We take this as a communication element, so we have a more flexible display with a perfect, homogeneous red light around the trunk of the car.

STEPHAN BERLITZ:

What’s possible with the A8 is already seen with the MMI system. You can change the signatures and for the future not even change the signatures by the MMI system, but also with a digital device. There’s a smartphone —

DAVID DEJOY:

Truly digital.

BERLITZ:

— truly digital device, yes. And what you already can do now is to play with the animations, that’s already possible now. And in the future, of course we want the customer to select, maybe function on-demand, to select the signature and say, “Oh, I like this”. $1 once and maybe $50 for the month, and 200 for the complete lifetime.

DEJOY:

So there’s a business model attached.

BERLITZ:

Yes. And we have the possibility already to do this, and in the future we will include more signatures. Or even, we can say “Our stylists designed something new, do you want it?” Look at it, turn it on, look at it on the car and say “I like it” and you buy it. Or, you get it free because you’re the best customer ever! We have these possibilities, and it’s nice to offer these things to our customers. The actuator’s already in the car, and with digitalization you can do much more things, and communication and safety features are possible in the future. That’s the great thing. We have nice things for the heart, and on the other side safety features where you can say “Hey, that makes sense to put this into my car.”

DEJOY:

So you can personalize the vehicle to your own liking?

BERLITZ:

Yeah. You can personalize, and on the other side, you still do something for safety.

KRUPPA:

In the end, you want to make your car your car. The same way you’re going to choose the lacquer, the same way you choose the color of your seats, you want to have something which is individual. You’re spending a lot of money for a premium car. So why not get the chance to change something which is fulfilling your wish? Or, if you have multiple users, like your family, your kids, your wife, your father, your mother, whatever – if they could change the car as soon as they’re entering the car, the user experience will be even better. You will create a trustful relationship between yourself and the car. And this is happening with light, because this is direct feedback. You have immediately the reaction of the car. If you take your smartphone and you’re selecting my preferred signature, and you can see it on the car while entering, that would be perfect. All the neighbors will stand around and say, “Hey, looking good!”