Lexus Unveils A Tacky Car Covered In 41,999 LEDs

The custom built Lexus IS 2017 variant looks like a billboard on wheels.

Japan is weird. The land of the rising Sun has been known for doing things to the extremes. Little wonder then, when the Japanese luxury car brand Lexus decided to put LED lights on the car, it went all out. The Japanese manufacturer unveiled its new 2017 IS, wrapped in a whopping 41,999 LEDs. If placed end-to-end, would stretch half a mile in length.

This setup of programmable lights turns the car intro a digital signboard. Lexus believes that the thousands of LEDs amplify the commanding design of the latest Lexus IS. According Toyota's blog post ^[1], all the lights have been hand-applied. In addition to broadcasting graphics, the car can also render animations based on gestures or music.

When fully illuminated, the custom built Lexus IS produces 175,000 lumens. The car features a Music Viz mode, which controls the LEDs in sync with the music. In the gesture mode, the car's system alters the lights as users' hand movements. There's a good chance that Lexus is using Microsoft's Xbox One Kinect hardware to pull this off. The car is featured in a music video "be the one" by Dua Lipa. Pardon me for promoting terrible music, but you may watch it to get the glimpse of the car.