Advanced Lighting Systems For Better Safety

Automotive Lighting systems, over time, have evolved to have a greater role in design of the vehicle as much as they do in the vehicle safety. They are no more just means of lightning the road ahead but also matured to making a statement of road presence. With that said, it does not withdraw any of its purpose of being a primary vehicle safety measure with slackening light. With the lighting cluster not only allowing manufacturers to have their signature style, the technical advancements in the system aids improved safety and comfort of driving on road. Defective bulbs are almost an event in the bygone days. With the usage of LEDs becoming the new normal, innovations in the types of LEDs underpin new possibilities in lighting design. 

The 80s were the times of the infamous relay box, which housed the relays that switch on the light bulbs. The relays were not the best in terms of reliability. With the inception of semiconductor switches, it enabled escalation of the lifetime making them more reliable than ever. 

This advancement led to the outset of LEDs being used in automotive lighting applications. This had to be the biggest leap in terms of advancements in lighting systems of an automobile. However, changes are not always as smooth as expected. Usage of LEDs carried their own shortcomings, an entirely different control module that was only possible with advanced electronics. 

Formerly used Halogen bulbs limited the headlight design since it was majorly determined by the size required for the bulbs to be housed in. The best selling point of halogen bulbs is their extremely low price and also compensate for their limited lifetime. Halogen bulbs, however, are known for their notoriously high power consumption and inefficiency, averaging at 26 lumens per watt. Their illumination has always been on the poorer side due to the light dispersion. At under 3000 kelvin, the colour emitted is always on the warmer spectrum of light which is not the best for night vision. 

The HID lamps (High Intensity discharge), a considerable successor to the halogens, are significantly more efficient standing close to 90 lumens per watt. Even so, HIDs are eclipsed easily by dirt, scattering the light which causes glare. Thereupon, integration of a cleaning system viz; headlight washers eventually turn mandatory, adding weight, design complexity and cost. 

The limitations of LEDs account to a meagre share in contrast to the ample benefits they offer. They have a class leading 100 lumens per watt estimated efficiency and constantly rising and the state of technology today enables assembly of miniaturised dimensions. Moreover, they are known and proved to run for extended periods of time even in adverse conditions with no significant drop in performance unlike the older counterparts. LEDs are the door to new design opportunities which feed the companies with the flexibility to create a signature style differentiating themselves from the competition.

Lighting systems have an undeniable role in road safety. With the increasing concerns of road safety and more stringent norms coming into picture regarding the same, automotive companies are dedicating an eye towards the research and development of new and advanced systems, particularly intelligent now, like the Adaptive Front lighting System (AFS) or the Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB) system aiming at reducing the glare to as close to nil as possible. Technologies like such ease off the responsibility from the driver to turn the beam on or off. With the integration of auxiliary systems like cameras, the tracing of traffic situations ahead became easier and also enabled the control module to regulate individual pixels so as to avoid glare for the oncoming traffic. Courtesy of the advancements in LEDs’ development, they are no more restricted only to the elite section of automobiles as was the case of the systems based on Xenon headlamps. 

Here are some noteworthy developments in adaptive lighting systems.

Anyone owning a vehicle, is pretty familiar with the two beams, high beam for extended roadway illumination for vehicle travelling at greater speeds and low beam for regular road illumination with oncoming traffic present. Conventionally, it is manually operated by the driver. More often than not, it creates room for human error like not changing the beams according to the traffic situation ahead taking the shape of a potential accident causing agent. Technological advancements have led the beam transition to take place automatically based on various sensors and the flexibility provided by the LEDs avoids sharp transitions. This enables a smooth transition from low beam to high beam with increasing speed, since farther visibility is necessary at higher speeds to dodge a probable threat.

Developments in the recent past have led the manufacturers to consider the steering angle change based upon data from various sensors to change the beam duly. This advanced system traces the lane framework ahead relating it to the speed, turning rate and the pitch and rotates the beam in the horizontal plane to dilate road visibility. It illuminates the right frame ahead of the driver boosting the ability to respond suitably. With strategically designed lights other than the headlights, they can be turned on or off based on cornering of the vehicle, to maximize the field of illumination for corners. 

Automotive lighting systems have come a long way from their rudimentary stages in the late 1800s. With the advancements till now, lighting systems have made way more safer than they ever used to be. Having said that, there is still room for growth in road safety with the help of lighting systems and the persistent research and development aids to it. Some companies have gone as far as using laser headlights which have capabilities like no other. While this holds true for only the elite section, it is not for the others. Such advanced lighting systems have not trickled down to the bottom yet but with time and advancements in production techniques and adopting cost efficient measures, the usage of such systems in common cars is not very far away. Such developments exemplify how potent this industry is and show that it is rewarding to invest in such research and development.