| Hella develops combined position and daytime running
light for the new Audi A8 W12 - the future of headlamps belongs to LED
technology.
The world's first series application of white
LEDs in a headlamp has been realized by Hella for the new Audi A8 W12.
This development opens up a whole new era in lighting technology. By the
year 2010, these economical, long-life and extremely powerful light sources
will have won their place in dipped beam, main beam and fog lamps, too.
Apart from these technical advantages, white LEDs offer totally new possibilities
for vehicle front-end design. One example is demonstrated by the combined
position and daytime running light in the new Audi A8 W12: Five white
high-power LEDs per headlamp are arranged like the five spots on a dice.
In both the daytime running light mode and the dimmed position light mode
at night, they give the top A8 model an absolutely unmistakeable appearance.
The light colour of the LEDs is the same as that of the xenon light which
provides optimum road illumination via the bi-xenon module. In addition,
a cornering light ensures more safety when turning at junctions or driving
through tight bends.
The realisation of this combined position and daytime running light is
a first step on the way towards producing a headlamp in which dipped and
main beam lights are also realised using LEDs. At the International Motor
Show IAA 2003 in Frankfurt, Hella presented such prototypes to the general
public for the first time. Due to their rapidly improving performance
ability, white LEDs will account for an increasing share of automotive
lighting by the year 2010.
Driving with lights on during the day is now compulsory in all Scandinavian
countries and in some other European countries (such as Switzerland, Italy,
Poland), and is also allowed in Germany. This is based on European legislation,
in particular ECE Regulation R48, which has allowed the use of special
daytime running lamps since 1995. Studies and field tests show that the
number of fatal accidents could be reduced by 25% if daytime running lights
were used.
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