Seven years ago, in 2018, Hector organized a DVN Workshop in Munich with the theme of Digital Light. There were presentations from automakers and set makers showing and telling how they imagined it would look and work.
Mercedes’ first HD lamp was announced a few weeks later on the S-Class Maybach. Audi’s e-tron was launched the next year in 2019, the first HD lamp in serial production. Who imagined how it would change our company organizations and our lighting industry? Digitalization had started, spreading from the consumer industry into automotive displays and then into vehicle lighting. Historically, lighting performance on the road was linked to light source performance and set maker skills to design a good optical system. With digital lighting, electronic function development including algorithms and software became key enablers. Functional development and software came from set makers and automakers.
HD lighting function development began to improve the resolution of ADB matrix solutions. No longer single LEDs are addressed by ECU channels or LEDS switches, but the HD light distribution is created by images, which are calculated by software algorithms on the basis of sensor information. Enhanced ECU calculation power is needed to create the images of the light distribution and offers nearly endless freedom to optimize and adapt the light distribution for low beam, high beam and ADB to different driving situations. This is pushing the performance and comfort for the driver to the top and also offers the opportunity to reduce glare to other road users.
With HD modules, road projections are feasible and can assist the driver during nighttime. HD technology for main lighting functions is a key to the highest safety levels and new lighting functions. Thanks to these new possibilities, designers can create nice welcome and farewell features to demonstrate the uniqueness of the equipped vehicle’s lighting system. UX exterior lighting was on the way.
All these things have happened in only seven years’ time. So, I look in the mirror and try to summarize the developments of those years. Next month in Munich there’ll be a dedicated session about ADB and projection, including 10 lectures. Registration is open.
