Over the years Audi has continued to impress with creative concepts using cutting-edge technology for their automotive headlights and taillights. Here are a couple recent videos: The first showcases what is possible when headlights become interactive 1 megapixel digital projectors, married to the sophisticated camera vision systems already in most cars. The second showcases the lighting concept design for the recent e-Tron.

I love how these videos demonstrate 3 key long term trends in lighting:

First, they continue to prove my long-standing hypothesis that light fixtures are transforming into digital pixels and that “lighting design” must evolve into “experience design“.

Second, they show that lighting can no longer be conceived without the element of time as a fundamental consideration. Storyboarding and animation skills are required to develop lighting concepts.

And third, they show the fluidity of design long-promised and finally delivered by LED tech, where lighting must be conceived more purely in terms of geometry, rather than constrained into traditional “fixtures”.