Regulations Decelerate Automotive LED Lights Development In the United States

Europe and Asia have been making advanced automotive LED Lights developments, while the technology has been slow to develop in the U.S., due to more stringent legal requirements.

One notable automotive LED lights requirement in the U.S. is how LED headlights must have a specific lighting pattern. The pattern can rotate when a car turns a corner, but has to maintain the same lighting shape.

As a result, most latest automotive LED light technology have been coming from Europe or Japan, said Stephan Berlitz, Audi head of lighting technology.

In addition amendments to automotive LED light can be a long and hard process that could take years in the U.S. because of testing, public comments and rule making.

Audi A8 LED headlights.

Still LEDs are very appealing light sources in car designs by allowing greater flexibility in car LED headlight styling to give it a distinctive signature look.

LED lamps can also be combined with cameras so it can continuously change the light patterns to meet immediate road conditions.

Moreover, LEDs smaller size allows for more bulbs in each headlight, which can be programmed to turn on or off to create unique light patterns based on road conditions and oncoming traffic.

Opel AAFL Plus LED lighting system to be introduced this summer will be able to create 256 beam patterns, said Ingolf Schneider, Opel director of lighting technology, and Audi has already brought adaptive matrix LED headlight system.

However, the U.S. has not approved the more advanced automotive LED lights system. The Society of Automotive Engineers has been working for over a year to create standards that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could use as a basis for rule-making changes. Audi even brought a European version of its A8 sedan for show in front of government officials. The report also pointed to OLED light sources, but noted the technology was still too expensive at the moment.