New intelligent lights to improve the signalling of the Volkswagen

Volkswagen has unveiled its new intelligent lighting system for its future models. This LED lighting system aims to set it apart from its competitors and increase safety in future cars with autonomous mobility. In a future that the company sees as very close, autonomous cars will have no visual communication with other drivers, so it will be important to have a way of carrying out that interactive and intelligent communication, which will alert the rest of the vehicles on the road.

These new front headlights will use at least 30,000 light points, which will make it possible to use the headlights as a communication channel with the rest of the vehicles, projecting information directly onto the road. All that information will make the other vehicles aware of the car’s presence and of all the manoeuvres it is going to carry out at any moment. But these new LED headlights will have other functions to improve the safety of the vehicle and allow it to carry out manoeuvres more safely.

The LED headlights will also make it possible to project lane lines in front of the car, so that automatic systems can determine the width of the car and its position with respect to the road markings, in order to keep the car within its lane. That covers the front headlights. As for the rear lights, the new lighting systems of Volkswagen will use rear lights that can also send warnings to the cars driving behind it. In risky driving situations the rear lights will be able to warn the cars following it of the danger, enabling car-to-car communication.

These lights can also be used to mark the car’s trajectory during a manoeuvre such as parking, helping any pedestrian about to cross see the manoeuvre the car is going to make, increasing safety while parking. The German company is testing these new systems in a tunnel that recreates driving conditions using these lights. The tunnel measures 100 metres long, 15 metres wide and 5 metres high and recreates real driving conditions. This tunnel has helped the company greatly to develop these lighting systems, since there is no need to wait for night to carry out the tests.

For the moment, this whole intelligent and interactive lighting system is still under development, so it will take a while before it is available. That said, once it is, it will be an important safety addition for their cars.

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