Audi’s latest Q3 uses a 13 mm-wide MicroLED module containing 25,600 individually controllable emitters, pushing the headlamp deeper into digital projection.
Source date: 2025 Primary organisation: Audi
A tiny array with a large job
Audi’s new Q3 is the first model from the brand to use its new MicroLED module in the Digital Matrix LED headlamp. The module is approximately 13 mm wide and contains 25,600 MicroLEDs, each around 40 micrometres across.
Lighting as spatial information
Individually controlling thousands of emitters allows the headlamp to shape light with far greater precision. Audi uses that capability for lane guidance, orientation lighting and road-based warnings. The company describes the light source as functioning almost like a video projector.
Precision brings responsibility
That description is important. A conventional headlamp illuminates the scene; a digital headlamp can place information into it. The road becomes part of the human-machine interface, reducing the need to translate every warning through an instrument display or head-up display.
The next step
The more information lighting can project, the more carefully designers must manage legibility, distraction, international regulation and the expectations of other road users. High-resolution capability does not mean every available pixel should be used.
The Lux View
MicroLED is changing the definition of a headlamp. Once an optical system can selectively place symbols, guidance and warnings on the road, it becomes both illumination and interface. The next design challenge is deciding which information genuinely belongs there.
Publishing information
Source and research links
Audi – new Q3
Audi – digital lighting interview
https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/press-releases/digital-lighting-provides-added-safety-16878