The 12th International Forum of Automotive Lighting China (IFAL 2024) was held on 17-18 October 2024 in Shanghai Lingang, a new area about 80km south of Shanghai city center on the coast. Lingang is home to the Tesla Gigafactory, as well as many high-tech industries, shipbuilding, aircraft engine and battery manufacturers.
The IFAL conference venue was an impressive and huge new conference center near Lingang Lake. The audience of 450 people was nearly all Chinese due to the Vision conference being held in Paris at the same time. IFAL president and founder Prof Yandan LIN said it was a pity but unavoidable this year, but it shall not happen again.
The title of this year’s IFAL was “Vehicle-Mounted Light Environment in Era of AI”. To prove the point, all presentations were translated by an AI and projected in Chinese and English on a panel at the top of the very large LED wall. A useful service indeed. At the same time, as usual in China, human translators were available via headset.
China’s importance in automotive lighting continues to grow. Close cooperation between science, technology and government is helping to drive further improvements. China is already a leader in ISD (‘interactive social/signal displays’) and “fun” lighting features, which first appeared with the Audi A7 in 2010 as rear lamp animation (Don’t miss the 2024 DVN Study about ISD, coming soon!). Europe is, and will continue to be, the leader in the development of night driving safety technologies like ADB, as the vast majority of car traffic in China takes place within city limits on mostly lit roads.
This week’s newsletter is almost entirely about China. China is the most dynamic and exciting market right now for automotive lighting. Very fast, very cost driven (a massacre) and full of bold solutions. See you in Shanghai at the DVN Workshop on 4 and 5 December.
