Audi Q9 debuts world-first curved OLED taillights

The glass inside the Audi Q9's new taillights is just 0.1 millimetres thick, about the width of a human hair. That thinness is what lets Audi bend its OLED panels to follow the SUV's body.

Audi calls this its third-generation digital OLED rear light and says the Q9 is the first production car in the world with curved digital OLED panels. That's Audi's claim. The panels curve in three dimensions, so the lights are visible from a wider angle, from behind and from the sides.

Audi has been using OLED lighting for around ten years now, beginning with the TT RS.

There are six panels that have 512 individual segments each. The outer curved panel has 99 segments, which is the biggest that Audi has installed, with 84 on the mid-panel and 73 in the inner panel of the light.

You get eight options of light signature from the car's MMI system. For the first time, says Audi, some of them are partially activated, giving them a distinctive pattern at night.

The lights also talk to each other. When the Q9 senses a danger, or when you press the hazard button, then the rear segments turn into a warning triangle in the taillight.

Audi Q9 price and availability

Audi first announced the Q9 in July, so the lighting itself isn't new this week. In the US, the Q9 starts at $87,700, and Audi's US materials say the curved OLED taillights come standard on Prestige trims. Both the Q9 and the SQ9 are due at dealerships in the fourth quarter of 2026.