Active Vehicle Frontlighting Systems based on Innovative LED and Laser Headlamps

The history of vehicle frontlighting has seen a number of major innovations, like the introduction of electric lighting in 1913, of the Bilux light bulb in 1924, of the Xenon light source in 1991 and LEDs and Laser light sources in headlamps during the past years. All of these innovations were driven by the availability of new optical technologies. In combination with sensor based intelligence they paved the way for a new class of mechatronic systems: Active Vehicle Frontlighting. This paper gives a survey of the development of intelligent autonomous vehicle frontlighting systems during the past two decades, starting with the Bi-Xenon system, first introduced to the market in 1999. It covers the historic development of lighting functions, the overall system architectures, presently available sensor and actuator technologies, and a detailed analysis of the optical concepts involved. LED Headlamp systems and concept ideas for Laser headlamps will be discussed in detail.