Five years ago the roads were first illuminated by vehicle headlamps equipped with LED light sources. Nobody would have imagined a few years earlier that LED headlamps would arrive so fast. This was the first step in the LED headlamp revolution, even though the lighting performances were very far from HID benchmarks. The question was at that time how long—five years? Ten?—it would take to achieve HID performance at equivalent price. Three(!) years later, I discovered that it was achieved when I drove the Mercedes CLS and then the Audi A7. What amazing, lightning-quick progress! I consider it the second step in the LED headlamp revolution.
The next important milestone happened a few weeks ago when I drove the new Mercedes E-Class with its wonderful, delightful LED headlighting system.
And last week I discovered at the North American International Auto Show the Acura RLX with its astonishing headlamps. I remember I worked at Valeo 10 years ago on an equivalent concept using HID instead of LEDs and I was dreaming of such a system. Today, it is made possible with LEDs. Stanley tell me the performance is best-in-class. This week we bring you the first information about the concept and the results of the technology. I intend to go to Japan to discover the latest progress and I will take this opportunity to drive the car and scrutinise the details of the technology.
I hope also that Stanley will present a lecture on it in the next DVN workshop in Shanghai.
LEDs are progressing on all automotive fronts; at the DVN workshop 2 weeks ago near Detroit, Audi told us they will present by the end of this year the new A8 with matrix beam headlamps implemented with only LEDs, without any actuators, something impossible to imagine few years ago.
Almost all dreams we had a few years ago have come true. All the lighting players can be proud of the incredible speed at which these developments have been achieved. We have made so much progress! I will make sure that at the April DVN Shanghai workshop, we will have the opportunity to discover in detail the latest new cutting edge lighting technologies. See you there!
Sincerely yours
DVN Editor in Chief