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As we are proceeding to stage 2 of our ECE automotive lighting regulations [1] the target is to define simplified and technology neutral regulations that also can be used with newly developed technologies. With this simplification we do have the opportunity to look into the chance to harmonize SAE and ECE variants. For the upcoming new technologies we have to define those functionalities, which can contribute to a benefit in safety and which have to be defined jointly for both regions (ECE and SAE). This has to be justified by research studies, where the results will be reported. The opportunity to come up with new, proven technologies in the automotive market with a global valid regulation should be taken into account.

Adaptive driving beam (ADB), which was first homologated in the ECE world (ECE 123) in 2012 has changed the automotive Front Lighting philosophy completely. Whereas we currently live with separate low beam and high beam features, also used in a combined way, we will have in the future a camera driven light distribution, which is a kind of modified high beam light pattern. ADB is a camera based lighting system, which enables the driver to achieve at night nearly high beam visibility without glaring oncoming or proceeding vehicles and road users. Once the presence of other vehicles is detected the headlamps change the light pattern and block the light where the oncoming or proceeding vehicles are located. The typical low beam light distribution with given and specified cutoff line will only be used in small speed areas. In US this development was well recognized and NHTSA is preparing a way to enable and approve the ADB systems with specific boundary conditions also for the US market.

Since 2012, adaptive driving beam (ADB) was homologated first in the ECE world (ECE 123). The idea behind is a camera based lighting system, which enables the driver to achieve at night nearly high beam visibility without glaring oncoming or proceeding vehicles and road users. Once the presence of other vehicles is detected the headlamps change the light pattern and block the light where the oncoming or proceeding vehicles are located. Light sources are typically High Intensity Discharge (HID) bulbs, but today also first LED applications are visible. For SAE, the definition of the parameters and the requested regulation changes to allow such systems are in progress. The paper reports about an extensive study executed in Germany at TU Darmstadt to investigate not only the improvement in visibility for the driver with such systems, but also evaluate the disability and discomfort glare for other road users.

In the last years we do recognize an increasing number of driver assistance systems, which aims to help the driver to drive safely through the corresponding traffic conditions. In parallel, automotive lighting uses a part of these new information systems to direct the light towards the appropriate directions and make night time driving safer. The newly developed glare free high beam system is one example to use the information of oncoming vehicles and proceeding vehicles and other road users to avoid glaring and to enlarge the visibility for the driver at the same time. The target is the creation of an optimized visibility, which will be delivered automatically. The paper reports on the findings of a test procedure, where the subjects had to rate the new lighting system and also the degree of comfort, which is delivered with such automatic visibility controlled light distributions.

First LED headlamps will be released into the market in 2007. Special permissions allow this introduction although the official regulation is still under discussion in ECE. The LED technology for front lighting has entered into a new phase from theoretical, prototype status to real and practical applications. Additionally in Europe the legislation, which is under preparation, defines LED modules with one or more LED chips in a row which should be replaceable. With this boundary conditions headlamp suppliers needs to balance between an attractive and innovative styling, demanded by car manufacturers and the light performance to gurantee good visibility at night. The paper describes the methods how to design an LED headlamp with high efficiency by keeping in mind the parameters: packaging, weight, styling and light perfromance. Results with specific design proposals are shown.

In 2003, the first AFS systems have been launched in various vehicles. The movable headlamps should improve the visibility mainly in curved roads. Especially the comparison between the Xenon (HID) - version and the Halogen system was noticed with considerably high interest. The paper describes the experimental study we did in order to find out, what the real benefit on the road for the consumer is going to be. The evaluation shows, that even with the AFS Halogen solution we can report a higher visibility in curved roads than with the static Xenon system. Additionally, the introduction of static bending lights and cornering lights in combination or as a stand alone system will be considered. The subjective impression for a better visibility for the drivers when parking or making U-turns could be clearly detected by the experimental survey. Nevertheless, the dynamic bending lights are getting the highest priority for the drivers at night.

Within the last decade we have noticed considerable improvements in Automotive lighting devices. Xenon headlights, Systems with low beam and high beam out of one Xenon bulb, so called Bi-Function headlights and in the near future, advanced front lighting systems (AFS) will lead to an important contribution in terms of safety when driving at night. In parallel the philosophy of automotive engineering has changed from individual technical solutions contributing to improved value within the vehicles to a system integration concept, where individual technical solutions will be combined to one specific innovation. The use of various sensors and information tools for different and multiple applications within a vehicle is highly appreciated and will lead to synergies with reduced costs for the individual components. This philosophy will also be applied for lighting systems in the future. The potential applications and possible solutions will be described within this paper.