INGOLSTADT (Germany): Audi is revealing the headlights of its new R8 as the first of a number of technology highlights of the top sports car. The R8 uses LED headlights which can be supplemented by a laser high‑beam lighting module as an option.
The new R8 will set new standards among high‑performance sports cars – including in its lighting technology. As an option, the latest car development by Audi can be equipped with a laser spot as the high‑beam headlight. The special appeal of laser lighting is that it uses high‑intensity laser diodes, which generate a lot of light energy from a very small component. Compared to LED high‑beam headlights, laser high‑beams attain nearly twice the lighting range.
Each headlight contains one laser module that operates with four high‑intensity laser diodes. This module bundles the four intense blue‑light laser beams. Then a phosphor converter transforms the blue light into pure white light. An identifying characteristic of the laser headlights is their blue light signature. Standard equipment in the new R8 includes an LED headlight system. All lighting functions are produced with 37 LEDs per headlight.
The laser spot is the latest production technology in a long line of lighting innovations. Audi introduced LED technology to the market for the first time in 2004 – in the daytime running lights of the Audi A8 L W12. Lighting technologies such as LED daytime running lights, Matrix LED headlights and laser spot high‑beam lights are prime examples of technology that visualize the core values of the Audi brand: progressiveness, sportiness and sophistication.
In related news, Audi is extending its lead in the field of automotive lighting technology with a new lighting competence center at the company’s site in Ingolstadt.
Vehicles can be driven into this underground light tunnel, which is 120 meters long and offers new possibilities, especially for the development of innovative lighting solutions and camera-based lighting assistance systems.
“Audi is the leading brand for automotive lighting technology,” stated Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development. “From the xenon plus headlight to the matrix‑LED headlight to the laser light, we have been putting pioneering innovations into series production for the past 20 years. Light is part of an automobile’s aesthetics and is becoming an interactive medium of information.”
Keyword: Audi introduces laser lights