At the latest DVN workhop two weeks ago near Detroit, Philips and Osram presented their views as well and market intelligence on trends, benefits, and challenges in LED headlighting. Here are the salient points:
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All car makers and lighting suppliers are working on LED headlamps. For instance, Osram and Visteon sponsor a design class at the College for Creative Studies to conceptualise future automotive LED lighting.
LED technology facilitates new possibilities in function and safety , unlocking new solutions for better seeing and reduced glare as well as intelligent IR applications. It expands the possibilities in styling and æsthetics , adding new dimensions to brand identification, empowering designers with the flexibility to explore shapes, colours, and configurations never before possible. It offers energy savings , particularly important with hybrid and electric vehicles wherein more efficient lighting translates directly to extended vehicle range.
The benefits offered by LEDs are well known to most of us: their robustness and durability, their compact packaging which facilitates lower profiles as well as applications involving light guides and 3D-appearing designs, their optical characteristics give rise to increased system optical efficiency, they consume less power, and their addressability and flexible electronic control strategies facilitate highly configurable light management.