Our first DVN Report on interior lighting, by Burkard Wordenweber, was published nine years ago The second, published five years ago, was written by Carsten Befelein—one of the greatest experts on interior lighting. He is also the author of this new third report, an especially important one because over the last five years so many new technologies have come onstream in light sources, optics, materials, electronics, and physiological knowledge. Interior lighting in the new cars, especially premium cars, is totally radical and that will spread and increase over the coming years with the development of news technologies and the arrival of semi-autonomous cars.
I thank Carsten Befelein for his great job on this DVN Report. He explains very well the evolution in interior lighting, and raises some interesting projections for the future. The report will be very fruitful for the interior lighting community. In around 9,000 words and 200 pictures, this report presents today’s interior lighting and likely trends for the future. The big trend in interior lighting, as seen at the latest auto shows, is for a growing number of lighting applications inside vehicles: contour and indirect lighting, decoration trims; stylish light patterns in headliners, seats and illuminated panoramic roofs, ambient lighting, light animation for welcome and goodbye modes, interior lighting features as brand identifiers, “smart” trim parts with integrated cognitive and connected lighting and electronics, and predefined or user-selectable light colours by dint of RGB LED arrays.
The trend to more interior lighting applications runs parallel to the trend to a higher number of electronic systems for cognitive and connected interior and exterior lighting products: larger displays and touchscreens in instrument panels and centre consoles, proximity sensors instead of traditional switches for lamp activation, gestural and voice control instead of switches, and intelligent light control for electric cars (e.g., connected with the power supply detection).
We tend to spend a lot of time thinking about exterior lighting. It’s easy to lose track of the giant progress in interior lighting. This new DVN Report is just the thing to bring you up to speed, so give it a read.
Sincerely yours
DVN President