Big clashes between regulations and technology are afoot, such as sequential turn signals and the situation with ADB in North America. But those aren’t the only skirmishes going on. Other pending issues on regulation include:
– ECE with automatic levelling devices and laser headlamps;
– Lack of harmonisation between US and UN. Great progress has been made at the last two DVN workshops in Detroit but much progress still remains to be done.
– Synchronisation issues: Chinese standards are several years behind the technical requirements of UN Regulations;
– Korea’s decision to withdraw its accession to the UN Regulations;
– The wish of the GTB international community to find a way to bring India and Brazil into membership. This week, in an article written with input from top experts, we take a look at the status of the worldwide regulations with respect to some of these vexments and the work ahead of us. Considering the great progress in automotive lighting technology, the main target now is to work together to bring this technology to as many people as possible in as many countries as possible. The success of ADB and laser headlamps will depend on their introduction in the worldwide regulations. We immediately have to work on this task with coordinated effort and not only from GTB but also from the whole of the lighting community: OEMs, suppliers, and researchers throughout the world. By putting aside own short-term interests and working towards a longer-term, common goal, we could make significant progress toward worldwide regulations within a few years to increase safety and pave the way for new techniques and designs.
New this week is a Letters to the Editor column. We regularly receive nice feedback from our Gold members; generally, out of modesty, we do not publish them. However, we recently received an exceptional piece of feedback, notable because it is from an American OEM and responsive to our coverage of regulatory matters. Please always feel free to send us your thoughts, whether positive or negative. We read and carefully think about every letter we receive.
On a more sombre note: please join me in keeping Wolfgang Huhn in your thoughts for a rapid and complete recovery from his terrible motorcycle accident last week. Wolfgang, we all need you—please come back as soon as you can!
Sincerely yours
DVN Editor in Chief