Daisy-chained connected light emitting diode (LED) devices for an automotive direct backlight system are presented herein. Such system can include a group of LED devices communicatively coupled with respective LED devices of the group of LED devices in a daisy-chained manner via serial communication interfaces between the respective LED devices. A host device of the system is directly connected, via a serial peripheral interface, to a foremost device of the respective LED devices, and is communicatively coupled, via the foremost device, to successive devices of the respective LED devices in the daisy-chained manner. The host device synchronizes generation of light by the respective LED devices based on defined timing information, and sends, via the foremost device, respective optical and electrical characteristic data to each of the LED devices to facilitate modification, via LED drivers of the LED devices, of operating characteristics of respective LED chips of the LED devices.