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The paper deals with the current progress in rear lighting technology. Within the competition in offering the best vehicle for the individual customer safety aspects but also the appearance of the rear lights are getting more and more important. Our investigation is based on the equipment of LEDs within rear lamps. In combination with the CHMSLs (Center High Mounted Stop Lights) the styling but also the safety feature which one can realize is different. In achieving shorter reaction times when using LEDs there were already made some general experiments in a laboratory (1). For the first time we did experimental analysis of reaction times of stop function of rear lamps including CHMSLs in various combinations in real traffic conditions, taking conventional tungsten halogen bulbs and LEDs as a light source. The results will be presented in this paper.

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.

In Automotive Lighting, we have spent some time in the last years to discuss on the styling opportunities by introducing LED Light Sources instead of Halogen and/or Xenon bulbs. The appearance and the signature of a given vehicle defined by dedicated lighting equipment were and is still today a very important topic to develop a competitive vehicle. The light performance is under these boundary conditions a question of second priority. This is also valid, because lighting suppliers and car manufacturers achieved in the past decade a lot of improvements and have reached a level of performance, which is comfortable overall for the consumers. The issue with glare, which everybody has when driving at night is already accepted today as a given fact. This paper tries to define the next steps lighting suppliers need to take in order to improve this glare issue by considering alternative solutions.

The built-in space available for a headlamp in motor vehicles has been steadily reduced by vehicle manufacturers over the last few years. In order to continue to provide the driver with the necessary safety equipment, new headlamp designs with improved efficiency are necessary. One such new design, the reflector with variable focus (VF Reflector), is presented in this paper. The mathematical concept of VF reflectors is explained and the advantages in lighting technique over conventional reflector systems are illustrated by means of concrete examples.

In the last years we recognize a big amount of innovative solutions in the field of automotive lighting and especially in front lighting systems. The major target to improve the light performance and to make driving at night safe is most important. The measure for the performance rating and the ability to compare different systems with a technology neutral process seems to be quite difficult. The legislation is looking for a simplification with clearly defined parameters for the future. Experimental test series recently published causing a lot of discussions as the sensitivity of the aiming of the headlamps can cause completely different performance test results. The paper will report on a study with various production vehicles, all in the same way initially aimed and prepared for all type of technologies.

A new automotive headlamp has been developed under the designation LITRONIC (Light Electronics). In order to improve the light quality and to increase driver safety on the road, a gas-discharge lamp was chosen as the light source instead of the conventional incandescent bulb. The projector headlamp is well-suited for the application of the LITRONIC system. Especially in the US market, there is currently a potential interest in applying projector headlamps in series production. Compared to conventional headlamps, advantages can be seen in the flexibility of this kind of headlamp from the styling view point. In this paper, newly developed solutions for projector headlamps from Bosch will be presented, for HID as well as for incandescent bulbs. Applications for low beam and for high beam are included. By means of concrete examples, the improvements in light quality compared to conventional systems will be demonstrated.

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.