You can thank the good people over at Audi for the latest and greatest in automotive lighting design. A few years ago it was Audi who introduced the daytime running LED headlights and heavily incorporated a completely new design of LED lighting systems on their automotive offerings. Pretty soon many of its top competitors decided to do the same and sure enough LED lighting has now become the standard.
Even the new Toyota Corolla – the new design of which was released a few short weeks ago – now comes standard with LED lights! What’s an innovation-based automaker to do now?!
Simple…just introduce a new type of automotive LED lighting system and remain the trendsetter that you have so deservedly become! This is exactly what Audi is planning on doing!
With the current iteration of Audi’s flagship A8 sedan poised to receive a facelift later this year – boy, do the engineers at Audi love their facelifts! – they thought it would be a perfect opportunity to debut what they are calling their "LED Matrix" headlights.
So what’s the big deal, you ask? Well, apparently the LED Matrix headlights are composed of 25 individual LEDs inside each headlight along with a camera system that constantly scans for oncoming traffic. Here's what’s neat…the headlights feature an automatic high-beam detector that seamlessly and automatically dims the individual LEDs that may blind or confuse oncoming drivers and instead illuminates other parts of the road. Ricky Hudi, Chief of Electronics at Audi, described the new headlight as a "high-beam headlight you can drive with all the time without blinding anyone." Beyond cool!
Here's is where the story takes a dark and sad turn…the LED Matrix headlights are still unlawful in the United States, even though the EU has successfully approved them. We Americans aren't used to not getting what we want, but this is one case where Big Brother may just have the upper hand. Still, Audi is giving us all hope that American lawmakers will realize the significance of the design and its safety-promoting attributes, ultimately allowing for the technology to be incorporated on U.S. spec Audi-mobiles. Hurray!
Audi is hard at work perfecting the next step in automotive headlight design. Someone has to carve the path for others to follow. Judging by the sharp and clean lines on all of Audi’s models, the automaker’s engineers have chisels and scalpels sharper than their peers. Audi may not be a creature of habit; I wish I could say the same for the rest of us.
Love It or Leave It? – When it comes to automotive design, embracing the new is imperative. Otherwise, we would all be driving Model Ts. Show 'em how it's done, Audi!