Lighting technology has improved year by year and is now helping current cars to be safer. At an international seminar, Volkswagen is showing how future lighting systems will communicate and further increase safety.
Volkswagen's engineers and designers use all the technologies available to them to increase safety through innovative lighting technologies. One of their goals is to enhance the lighting capabilities of current vehicles to improve road safety.
For example, the light matrix LED headlights in the new Touareg can improve comfort and safety when driving at night.
The new lighting system will include micro-pixel HD headlights with up to 30,000 light spots and high-performance LED headlights to replace cost-intensive laser lights. These micro-pixel HD headlights will project information directly onto the road for the first time, further increasing safety.
The technology also enables new assist systems such as "optical lane assist systems". In this system, the headlights are projected in the lane in front of the Touareg, providing the driver with precise information about the width of the SUV (including the trailer) and the distance to road signs, such as in road engineering. The lane also follows the radius of the curve. Such useful and safety-enhancing lighting features are being tested using HD-LCD headlights.
New systems such as matrix taillight clusters will also revolutionize taillights. Matrix-type taillights will allow warnings to be integrated into taillights, such as eliminating dangerous situations through vehicle-to-vehicle communication, such as areas at the end of traffic jams.
New auxiliary functions, such as a micro-lens-based "optical parking assistance system", will improve safety during handling. The system will be able to project the path of the vehicle onto the road to warn passers-by during the parking process.
