Bright ideas

Some of Audi’s brightest ideas are born in the dark. Deep below head office in Ingolstadt is thew largest light tunnel for vehicles in Europe – Audi’s Lighting Competence Centre – an enormous space that could well form the backdrop for a Bond villain’s headquarters or a massive clandestine research facility.

Indeed this is a cutting-edge research facility and much of what goes on there remains well and truly hidden until it is released to the world in all its brilliant glory, giving a new Audi model not only  state-of-the-art lighting but its own signature that is visible and identifiable from kilometres away.

Inside the matte‑black‑painted tunnel, the development engineers test the likes of adaptive high beam and camera‑based lighting assistance systems, refining systems that not only improve vehicle safety but are literally intrinsic to the design of the vehicles. At Audi, lighting technology and lighting design are inextricably linked.

For César Muntada, Head of Audi Lighting Design, the work done so many floors below thew surface is a constant search for perfection.

"We look for what we find exciting and don’t settle for what’s already there,” he says of thew approach that has put Audi at the very forefront of automotive lighting technology.

“If the technology we want to use isn’t automotive-ready, we will develop it! That’s how we were able to work with LEDs, laser technology, OLEDs and projections based on the principle of projectors. We don’t limit ourselves to the current state of technology but think in terms of research steps.”

Like so many aspects of automotive design and engineering, lighting technology has changed dramatically in recent years and is more exciting that ever before. 

“The electronic evolution gives us enormous creative freedom,” says Muntada, “meaning that we can now design objects that fit perfectly into the design of a vehicle. Every car conveys a message and we are part of it, we emphasise it. This freedom, these possibilities came with the LEDs, which we were able to finally put in exact places so that we could describe a shape or a line,” he says.

Although the light signature of each Audi model is different, the underlying feature common to all of the brand’s models is one of sportiness and a distinct clarity and calm that is as evident from a distance as it is up close

Muntada says that LED in particular have allowed tremendous flexibility in lighting design in recent years and dismisses claims by some that LED lights tend to look ‘cold’ as improper use of the technology.

"LEDs can adapt to almost any situation by changing their colour, light temperature or intensity,” he says.

“Said subjective coldness only comes about when they are used incorrectly. So, you may use too much light intensity, although it is not needed. It’s what makes them disturbing or annoying and we want to avoid that, of course. Incidentally, the usual light temperature of LEDs is by no means artificial or cold but is close to that of daylight. Yet even the temperature of daylight seems unusual to us when we drive our car through the night. At night, we tend to associate light with warm colours.”

Audi’s lighting design is considered avant-garde, with designs that very much push the envelope of what’s possible – much like Muntada himself.
“My whole family is into design and art. I was always surrounded by creative objects and I often witnessed how something new could be produced, seemingly, out of nothing, with just a few lines on a blank sheet of paper.”

“My studies in vehicle design in Great Britain also pointed the way. At first, my English was so poor that I hardly understood anything in the lectures. We were given the task of designing a telephone, at least I knew that much. I went to the library to get started and ended up browsing books on all kinds of topics. I found everything fascinating. On the day we were supposed to present our works, everybody had made phones that looked like phones. Except me. 

“I realised, if you have the same perspective as everybody else, you end up doing the same things as everybody else. I decided to push for new perspectives as often as possible, and I still try to do that today. That’s the kind of designer I want to be.”

Today he draws inspiration from everything around him – particularly from nature.

“In nature everything in it is more or less based on light,” he says. “Then there are books. I read a lot, sometimes very slowly, to understand exactly why perhaps this and not that word was chosen. The power of a statement often lies in the details.
But most of all, I value the inspiration I find in conversations with my team. We talk about all kinds of things, the conversations go from one topic to another, but almost always we get to the point when someone says – Can we try this? And I say, ‘Yes, of course, why not?’ This attitude is in us and, in my view, also in Audi. Only when there is no more need for improvement do we leave it as it is.

Until then, Muntada and his team will continue to toil away in their subterranean cavern, developing new technologies and creating new designs that not only light the way but become a part of the personality of each new Audi.