Audi Matrix LED headlights brighten the future

LEDs - what started out as small illumination devices in electronic devices have now pretty much taken over the world. From televisions to mobile phone screens to household lights and now even automobile headlights – LEDs are everywhere. And speaking about automobile headlights, no other auto maker has done so much work in that area as Audi.

With the first full-LED headlight system introduced on the R8 back in 2008, the Ingolstadt based company has been making great progress in turning the humble light emitting diode into car head lamps.

And the latest development on this front has been Audi’s Matrix LED headlights, which are due to debut on the brand new A8 sedan which should be rolling out by the end of 2013. The system splits up the LED headlight beam into numerous individual diodes which are then connected to multiple lenses and reflectors.

In the new Audi A8, each headlight comprises of 25 high-beam light-emitting diodes, arranged in groups of five per reflector. Not only does the crystalline sheen produced by these headlights look distinctive and attractive, they go a long way in complementing the daytime LED running lights as well.

But the biggest advantage of this system is that thanks to the multiple reflectors is that when any oncoming vehicles are detected, the system can blank out the part of the beam which would shine directly onto those vehicles, while maintaining high beams with full power on all other areas between and besides the vehicles.

The system can also flash individual LEDs at detected pedestrians in critical range, not only alerting them, but clearly marking them out for the driver.

And when it comes to cornering, the Matrix LED system can displace only a part of the beam into the turn, providing much better illumination for the driver. But that’s not all. Taking inputs from the on-board navigation system, it can actually pre-empt upcoming corners and turn the lights into the corner even before the driver starts turning the wheel.

By combining existing technologies in an innovative manner, Audi has once again set the example in automotive lighting, and once again proving that all-electric is the way of the future.