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The DVN Shanghai event, held last October, brought together more than 520 participants from 150 different companies, including over 200 OEM representatives. Most car manufacturers were present, both domestic Chinese brands (BYD, Xiaomi, Geely, Chery, BAIC, Great Wall, Dongfeng, etc.) and international ones (Ford, GM, VW, Mercedes, BMW, Renault, etc.).
This year, the event focused on five key topics:
- Interior Lighting: Increasingly dynamic activation, with interior lighting becoming an integral part of the user experience. Vehicle usage in China, especially when parked in camping or glamping mode, requires additional interactive features such as a starry sky.
- EE architecture
- Exterior Lighting Design: There is growing interest in jewellery-inspired designs (crystal-like effects, starry lights, film integration, painting combined with laser etching), and turquoise light is emerging as a new differentiator for “intelligent vehicles” equipped with AD Level 2 features.
- Lighting & Safety Performance: IMM Motors highlighted the implementation of additional high beams to improve visibility, while CATARC presented a draft proposal for the 2027 rating, which includes a bonus for vehicles equipped with Signalling Road Projection or Driver Assistance Projection.
- Lighting & Exterior HMI: ISD displays continue to grow, especially with 2–4mm pitch now possible using standard LED solutions to control costs, as demonstrated by Lynk&Co. From monochrome and two-color solutions, RGB solutions are coming with different SOP in 2026.
External HMI is not only for signalling function with ISD, and we see more and more application using RGB projection system (LEDs and Laser)
There was strong interest during the workshop in cost-saving measures, simple designs to reduce complexity, lower costs, and increase development speed. The use of films instead of highly complex edge-lit thick-wall optics, or the adoption of Dome LEDs, proved to be attractive alternatives at tier 2 supplier booths.
