Audi LUX
How will fully autonomous Audis use lighting to communicate with their surroundings in the near future?
Audi Light Urban Experience is a showcase model that features an interactive, intelligent lighting system on an abstract concept car. The design combines technology, function and styling into an expandable, open platform for further research and studies in the area of autonomous car lighting.
A huge THANK YOU to the Audi departments of Light Design, Light Development & Innovation and Scale Modeling for enabling me to work on this awesome project!
Scenario & Research
The project was located in an Asian Megacity in 2030. This environment is a real challenge for fully autonomous cars. Here, traffic is very organic and consists of all kinds of road users ranging from pedestrians, cyclists, scooters to cars of mixed levels of autonomy. Communication between road users is crucial in this free flowing, chaotic traffic, be it through signs, gestures, honking or light signals. Since the passengers of fully autonomous Audis won't be obliged to be paying attention to traffic, the car needs to handle all of that by itself.
In 2030, fully autonomous Audis may be the first of their kind on public roads. Audi LUX communication lighting system therefore most importantly aims to create trust in Audi's automated driving technology. To create the needed level of trust, light is used to visualize the inherent intelligence, sensors and safety systems of the car to the outside world. This data visualization is underlined by the graphic design of the lighting, using the semantics of neural networks. The lighting makes the car look intelligent, interactive, sentient and alive.
LUX Concept Car
A concept car was designed as a base for the lighting system. The design is clean, simple yet dynamic and sportive. The main focus is put on the light. While LED position lights are located in their usual spots in the front and the rear, the communication light is placed 360 degrees around the car and all above the shoulderline to reach maximum visibility in dense traffic. The total area of light is intelligently determined by the traffic situation and can cover the car's whole greenhouse. The communication light becomes the car's visible "brain".
LUX Lighting System
LUX communication light works in three simple steps: Recognition - Trust - Signal. Adaptive brightness first shows close road users they are being recognized by the car. This recognition will in turn create trust that the car will include these road users in it's calculations and act accordingly and safely. Once that mutual trust is established, Audi LUX can send certain signals to make others aware of its intent or warn them of potential dangers.
Interactive Model
LUX lighting system was designed to be an interactive showcase model, so a real-time algorithm was programmed to allow up to six users to simultaneously interact with the car model through optical recognition. The algorithm features user recognition by adaptive brightness, automated warning signals based on users' position relative to the model, recognition of users' hands and a slight vibration of the network that is generated by audio capture of the models surroundings.
On top of that, pre-rendered animations to show certain signals like a turn signal or the car's intent to stop can be seamlessly triggered via a simple user interface on an iPad. Multiple parameters of the lighting system and graphics like line thickness or dot sice can also be altered through the tablet interface in real time to enable design on demand.
Finished Model at CES 2019
After programming the algorithm and modeling the car in Autodesk Alias, Audi LUX was built as a 1:3 scale model and exhibited at CES 2019, where visitors could interact with it freely. The finished car model features no wheels anymore to put all attention towards the user's interaction with the light. More on the model can be found at Audi Mediacenter.
Since CES 2019, the model's open algorithm has constantly been updated with new features to study how communication lighting will be used in the future.
