The Future Is Bright

New LED headlight units are very bright. And that's a good thing.

Driving down a rural road late at night, you mutter to yourself about what a lousy job your yellow-tinted incandescent headlights are doing at lighting up the road. Up ahead in the distance, you spot two bright white, laser-etched designs coming towards you. Old technology, meet new technology.

Audi's R8 was the first production car
to feature LED headlights.

Welcome to the world of the LED light. It’s incredibly common these days to spot a car driving around with a neat glowing design, but just a few years ago, it was more of a rarity. Personally, I think that LEDs add a nice cosmetic touch to vehicles by creating a sort of light signature through the car's headlights and brake lights. While this is of course subjective, it’s undeniable that these bright, “cool” coloured lights help make our roads safer to drive on.

Audi was the first auto manufacturer to put LEDs to use in their vehicles. They pioneered this practice by including LED daytime running lights on their 2005 A8 sedan, and took this a step further by being the first to install all-LED headlights in their 2008 R8 supercar. Not only are they brighter than any previous headlight technology out there, they’re a part of the greener, more environmentally-friendly movement in the auto industry.

LEDs allow manufacturers such as Mercedes to create
a visual "signature" which can be identified from far away.

LEDs by their very nature are quite energy efficient. Unlike older incandescent bulbs, they don't generate a great deal of heat, and they have a lifespan that often exceeds 50,000 hours of use. Like any other new technology, LEDs still tend to be an expensive option on most new vehicles. Certain manufacturers such as Mercedes have created headlight units featuring “adaptive high beam” systems, which automatically control your high beams by using a front-facing camera (remember those from last week?) that detects if a car is approaching you, and turns them off all by itself.

What’s next? Audi and BMW are using lasers as headlights on certain models in Europe, though they’re still considered to be illegal for use in the U.S. at present time. But for now, the future is looking bright thanks to the auto industry's innovative use of LEDs, and the added safety factor that they provide by illuminating all of our journeys.