Today we proudly release the 2012 DVN technical report on vehicle interior lighting. Author Carsten Befelein has directed most of his career and enthusiasm into automotive lighting and electronics. From 1987 to 2009 he was a physicist in BMW’s lighting department. In 2010 he founded CB-Lichtdesign, his own engineering office for lighting development and design.
Vehicle exterior lighting gets a great deal of coverage in accord with its unprecedented rapid pace of technical and technological innovation. The lights inside the vehicle are less discussed, but are likewise undergoing rapid and fascinating revolution and evolution. Traditional light sources—incandescent bulbs and, for commercial vehicles, fluorescent tubes—are being supplanted by LEDs, OLEDs, electroluminescent foils, and other high-tech light sources. Optical technique and implementation are changing to accommodate and maximise the performance of the new light sources, at a pace accelerated by the growing proliferation and shrinking space available for lighting devices. In turn, the new light sources and optics are unlocking new design prospects unimaginable just a few years ago. In an increasing swath of the whole vehicle segment, the days are past of the simple, single on/off dome light. New knowledge of physiological and psychological needs and preferences in ambient and task lighting combines with the new light technology and technique in the hands of designers and engineers to produce ambient environments full of non-glaring, variable-colour light that can be tailored to tasks, preferences, temperatures, outside light levels, and numerous other parameters.
The new and old techniques, technologies, and possibilities are presented in detail in this report, with numerous examples depicted and described. Profiles are provided of some major players in the interior lighting market, and trends for the future are discussed.
In my opinion, the pace and variety of advancement in the state of the interior lighting arts is even greater than that of exterior lighting, because the stringent technical and legal regulations that govern the design, performance, and construction of exterior lights do not apply to interior lighting. The only limit is finite engineering resources—obviously the prime concern to be addressed in the future. We hope you find the report informative and interesting; please share your comments with us!
Yours sincerely,
DVN Editor in Chief