Last week I was in Moscow at Automechanika, presenting a lecture on the past, present, and future of automotive lighting. In the course of presenting the innovations of the last 25 years, it struck me anew the amazing amount and pace of progress made by the vehicle lighting community and industry in virtually every sector of what we do: light sources, optics, smart systems, multifunctional adaptive systems. It’s really quite amazing, and it’s only speeding up.
For a preview in the meantime, take a look at our interview this week with Opel’s lighting boss Ingolf Schneider, who talked with us about his 25 years in automotive lighting. His answers show the huge difference between where we were in 1989 and where we are in 2014.
Watch for the DVN report to be released on 23 September, which will elucidate this progress specifically in the realm of ADB and matrix beam technology and technique and see the interesting interview of Audi’s Wolfgang Huhn who told us about the prospects for expanded deployment of matrix headlamps,
Clearly, lighting people have done an impressive technical job, but we haven’t yet done as well with the attendant communication. It’s not enough for us to congratulate ourselves; we have to educate managers and regulators (upstream of us) and drivers and car buyers (downstream of us) about what’s been achieved and what’s in sight on the horizon. Let’s get on it!
Sincerely yours
DVN Editor in Chief