A lighting apparatus for a motor vehicle includes a processing module configured to receive, process and send signals from a data bus of the motor vehicle, and a light-emitting diode (LED) unit configured to emit light of adjustable brightness and prescribed color locus. The LED unit has a microcontroller and a plurality of LEDs, where the microcontroller and the LEDs are surrounded by a package of the LED unit. The LED unit is further configured to communicate bidirectionally with the processing module so that a present status value of the LED unit, which status value is representative of a functionality of the LED unit, is ascertainable by the LED unit and the processing module.