Check Out VW’s Upcoming Interactive Headlights And Taillights

BY Dan Mihalascu | Posted on

In the future, headlights and taillights will do more than just point the way forward or signal a vehicle’s position. Volkswagen says its lighting technology will go as far as to communicate and further increase safety.

At an international workshop, the company shows how the lighting systems of the future will boost safety and personalize vehicle design. In the future, VW autonomous cars will confront road users with new situations, such as a lack of eye contact with drivers. That’s where the new interactive lighting functions will come into play.

Headlights that will project information onto the road

Interactive units will include micro-pixel HD headlights with up to 30,000 light points — already a reality on the current Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. The micro-pixel HD headlights will project information directly onto the road, helping to improve safety further.

The technology will also make possible new assist systems such as “Optical Lane Assist,” which projects lanes in front of the car. This system will give the driver precise information about the width of the vehicle and the distance to the road lane markings.

Taillights with incorporated warnings and custom designs

New systems also include matrix taillight clusters that VW says will revolutionize tail lamps. The new units will allow warnings to be incorporated into the taillights. For example, during dangerous situations, the taillights will enable car-to-car communication.

Furthermore, new assist functions, such as the micro-lens-based “Optical Park Assist” system, will improve safety during maneuvers. More specifically, it will project the vehicle’s path onto the road to alert passers-by to the parking process.

VW is currently testing future lighting technology at a research center at the Wolfsburg plant. The company is using a 100-meter long, 15-meter wide and 5-meter high light tunnel for road simulations. VW claims the light tunnel has reduced the development time for headlights, taillights, and interior lighting systems. That’s mainly because there’s less need for time-consuming night drives.

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