German carmaker Audi has always prided itself on its lighting technology, from adaptive lighting that illuminates

the road to clearer LED daytime lights and more. Being the most important Audi car part, bold, effective lighting on a car not only makes a strong style statement, but also increases safety, providing both drivers and other cars with more information about their environment. With that in mind, Audi is currently developing new lighting techniques that will move automotive technology to a future of highly intelligent vehicles and safer roads. Heres a close look on the lighting technology adapted or yet to be adapted by Audi in their different car models. LED Headlights Combining cutting-edge technology in manufacturing of Audi car parts with contemporary lighting design, Audi has consistently been setting milestones in the field of new generation car parts and LED headlights. The innovative technology of the LED headlights was introduced in the R8 in 2008, and today it is being implemented all the way to the A3 model series. With a color temperature of around 5,500 Kelvin, the LED light resembles daylight, and this reduces eye fatigue. The lightemitting diodes are maintenance-free, designed to last till the life of the vehicle, and are highly efficient. The low-beam light, for example, only consumes around 40 watts, which is five percent less than xenon plus units. In the Audi A8, for instance, the low beams comprises ten individual lens modules extending through the headlight in a distinctive arc below the chrome contour known as the wing. Directly below this is another arc of 22 white and 22 yellow LEDs for the daytime running lights and the indicators. Their thick wall technology makes them appear to the onlooker as homogeneous, continuous strips of light. The high-beam headlight is housed above the wing. Its light is generated by two powerful four-chip LEDs and a free-form reflection system; an assistance function switches between the lower and the main beams. Additional high-output LEDs generate the highway light and the cornering light. LEDs do not reach especially high temperatures. Red lightemitting diodes can generate temperatures up to 120 degrees Celsius and white ones to 150 degrees Celsius much less than halogen headlights, which generate temperatures of up to 400 degrees Celsius. Audi has designed a system called Matrix LED for its 2013 headlamps. The key to the Matrix is a camera that looks out for pedestrians and other cars. When it doesn't spot anything, it allows the LED lighting to default to a brighter high-beam. But when it spots something, it selectively dims certain LEDs to avoid blinding other drivers and pedestrians. The individual light-emitting diodes, which work in tandem with lenses or reflectors in front of them, always deliver excellent illumination, without requiring a swiveling mechanism instead they are separately activated, deactivated or dimmed according to the situation. LED daytime running lights and LED rear lights Making their first appearance in 2004 in the Audi A8 W12, white LED daytime running lights are now available for every model in various configurations. LED daytime running lights make sure that you are seen quickly by other road users, whatever might be the daytime light conditions. The advantage of LED daytime running lights is that other road users can see your vehicle quickly, whatever be the daytime light conditions. These special daytime running lights consume less energy than normal dipped-beam headlights. Theyreduce fuel consumption and extend the dippedheadlights working life. Automatic activation or deactivation can be selected as desired in the vehicle settings. When the dipped-beam headlights are activated by the light and rain sensor, the daytime running lights are automatically switched off. In Audi A1, two light-emitting diodes are used per unit; they emit their light into a transparent polymer tube, the light guide, which generates a uniform contour. In the Audi A7 Sportback, the daytime running lights of the optional LED headlights also appear linear, but they originate from 18 individual LEDs with a polymer body in front of them. Another imperative Audi car part is the LED rear lights which are innovative brake lights and tail lights featuring long-lasting LED light sources. They indicate to other road users when the vehicle is braking, reversing or signaling to turn, and they are highly visible in fog. They produce a distinctive light pattern that in many cases also produces three-dimensional effects. The light-emitting diodes reach their full light intensity almost instantaneously Seeing the brake lights of the car ahead within

time can reduce a drivers stopping distance, by around 5.5 meters for instance when braking from a speed of 100 km/h (all other conditions being the same). The laser diode comprising Audis laser tail light allows the vehicle to communicate with other drivers about the surrounding environment. In good weather, the laser angles downward in a fan-shaped arc toward the road, and draws a clear red line on the pavement, high lighting road conditions to trailing vehicles and suggesting an optimal following distance. In poor conditions, like heavy rain and fog, lasers pass through water droplets far more effectively than normal lighting, and make the laser-enabled car much more visible to other drivers. OLED technology OLED technology is yet another example of Audis pioneering work in the vehicle lighting area. The abbreviation stands for organic light emitting diode. Unlike the LEDs currently in use, which consist of semiconductor crystals, OLEDs are made from an organic material. These lights can react to almost any stimulus: lights on the contours and door handles of the car can guide the owner to the handles in darkness. In good visibility; the laser tail light shines a fan-shaped red line from the back of the car. It is used to prompt the driver behind to keep a safe distance, similar to a stop line. In fog or during rain, the laser beam bounces off the water in the air and turns the line into a triangle, similar to the warning triangle used on breakdowns. Using the OLED technology, Audi has revealed a car lighting technology that can make the back of the cars show bright patterns to other drivers. HOW DOES IT WORK? Swarm technology is made up of thousands of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). These are small points of red light flicker that move like a swarm of fish. The movements of the red dots follow the movements of the vehicle. While turning right, they flow to the right. When the car speeds up, the number of dots or 'the swarm of fish', increase and flow faster around the surface. When the driver brakes, the dots slow down and flow forward onto the top of the boot. Audi has already demonstrated the OLED lighting in both the R8 and Q7 at the Audi Electronics Center in Ingolstadt. In Audi R18 e-TronQuattro, another variant of OLEDs called, AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) has been featured as a stunning weight-saving technology.