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First LED headlamps will be released into the market in 2007. Special permissions allow this introduction although the official regulation is still under discussion in ECE. The LED technology for front lighting has entered into a new phase from theoretical, prototype status to real and practical applications. Additionally in Europe the legislation, which is under preparation, defines LED modules with one or more LED chips in a row which should be replaceable. With this boundary conditions headlamp suppliers needs to balance between an attractive and innovative styling, demanded by car manufacturers and the light performance to gurantee good visibility at night. The paper describes the methods how to design an LED headlamp with high efficiency by keeping in mind the parameters: packaging, weight, styling and light perfromance. Results with specific design proposals are shown.

The paper deals with the current progress in rear lighting technology. Within the competition in offering the best vehicle for the individual customer safety aspects but also the appearance of the rear lights are getting more and more important. Our investigation is based on the equipment of LEDs within rear lamps. In combination with the CHMSLs (Center High Mounted Stop Lights) the styling but also the safety feature which one can realize is different. In achieving shorter reaction times when using LEDs there were already made some general experiments in a laboratory (1). For the first time we did experimental analysis of reaction times of stop function of rear lamps including CHMSLs in various combinations in real traffic conditions, taking conventional tungsten halogen bulbs and LEDs as a light source. The results will be presented in this paper.

The paper deals with the current progress in rear lighting technology. In developing the best vehicle in terms of traffic and driver safety, a rear signal light becomes increasingly important. Many car manufacturers are offering an LED CHMSL (Center High Mounted Stop Lamp) as one mean of increasing traffic safety. This investigation is based on the comparison of reaction times between lighting devices equipped with conventional incandescent bulbs and those equipped with LEDs. In combination with the CHMSLs, LED signal lamps provide value in styling and safety features. Laboratory measurements had already been done resulting in shorter reaction times with LEDs. This study discusses experimental analysis of driver reaction times in response to the stop function of rear lamps including CHMSLs.

In the last two decades and especially in the last few years we could see an extreme increase of exterior signal lighting importance from the styling point of view and today it is one of the key factors of differentiation. In addition to that, styling requirements of world's regions are influenced reciprocally and needs diversity of developed and emerging markets is obvious. That opens new challenges for innovative optical systems development, when “innovative” does not necessarily mean “more expensive”. For covering global needs in automotive signal lighting it is essential to use the whole range of light sources (including bulbs) and combine different types of optical systems to get an interesting enough but affordable output. This paper aims to review innovative approaches considering different market needs to deliver reasonable solutions for automotive signal lighting of near future.

High-power LEDs and LED headlamps have become a serious consideration for the automotive industry. White LEDs have achieved the required performance for initial automotive headlamp applications. However tradeoffs among several attributes such as efficiency, cost, weight and performance profoundly affect LED headlamp development and need to be addressed by vehicle manufacturers, lamp set makers and LED source suppliers in order for LED headlamps to be effective. The solutions to these tradeoffs relates to the behavior of the LED sources, the thermo-mechanical integration of LEDs in a headlamp environment and input from the vehicle manufacturer regarding styling and packaging for an LED headlamp on the respective targeted vehicles.