Extract from interview to ATZ
Audi’s Stephan Berlitz, head of Light/Vision Innovations Development at Audi, will attend the DVN workshop in Munich. In an interview to ATZ concerning the lighting technology of the new Audi e-tron Sportback, Berlitz presented the latest lighting innovations. Here’s a sample of what he had to say:
About road marking
“Technically, pictograms such as snowflakes or warning triangles projected onto the road in front of the car to warn the driver of dangers are feasible. However, the security issues regarding the recognizability of symbols must be fulfilled. Even with no law that prescribes or prohibits the symbols to be projected, we want to find a good solution for everyone involved in industry, government, politics, society, and I am also sure that we will succeed. The product advantage must be clearly visible to road users. In the Audi e-tron Sportback, we have done this very well.”
About digitalisation
“Since LED technology made its breakthrough in all lighting functions, it has been about digitalisation. LEDs can be switched individually, i.e. digitally on or off. This enabled Audi to optimise the high beam using the matrix function. The next step is micromirror systems with more than a million segments, which make it possible to quickly and precisely point out the precise vehicle contour of an oncoming vehicle or to warn the pedestrian with marker lights on the road.
The digital light represents the cornering, city and motorway lights as forms of the low beam with the highest precision and complements the high beam with an even more precise blanking of other road users.It also offers new functions such as track and orientation light. On expressways, the lane light creates a carpet of light that illuminates one’s own lane brightly and adapts dynamically when changing lanes.”
About OLED
“A lot of functions from OLED would be possible. The car knows what is happening behind a curve via swarm data. One could inform the driver 1km before the traffic jam with “Warning traffic jam”, via the symbol of a warning triangle. And 200 metres before the end of the traffic jam, the warning triangle starts to flash intensely. If you drive even closer, the brake light comes on in a flashing function.”
