It was a real pleasure to visit Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn (what a building!) during my trip to Detroit a few weeks ago. U.S. OEMs have built—and continue to build—great cars (just look at this beautiful GT40). And what is impressive for me, as a European guy, is how much Americans truly love cars. Owning and using a car in the U.S. is so much easier than in Paris—or even Rome, Stockholm, London, or Copenhagen. And what about Munich, with its 30 km/h speed limit on the motorway…?
In the same way, you can really feel how much Americans love lamps, with strong interest in the automotive lighting aftermarket. Automotive lighting in the U.S. is evolving rapidly, driven by a strong focus on innovation, technology, and localization.
Our next DVN lighting event will be DVN Detroit in June, and we are working hard to make it a compelling and valuable program. The day before the event, we will organize a deep dive focused on functions development, including specifications, ways of working, software management, cybersecurity, and all the requirements needed to enable “smart” cars with evolving lighting functions. We are also pleased to confirm a very exciting roundtable discussion with lighting R&D leaders from the Big Three OEMs, addressing key challenges and future perspectives.
I am currently working on the detailed agenda, so please feel free to contact me if you would like to contribute or help finalize it.
This week, we are also pleased to publish Daniel’s interview with J.W. Speaker, together with my analysis of AEB requirements and (possibly) a new low-beam pattern to support them.
To bolster DVN’s U.S. operations, I am pleased to welcome Mark Verplank to the team. Recently retired from Valeo, he will be a great support to Daniel in serving the U.S. DVN community. I would also like to thank Felipe for the excellent work he has done over the past 18 months. Felipe has returned to product development in a new role at Tier 1 supplier Forvia Hella, within Eoin’s team. Stay in touch—the lighting world is small in the U.S., and we will surely meet you again.
Last but not least, while I was in the U.S. preparing our June event, Wolfgang was in China attending the ALE exhibition. I invite you to read his very insightful summary.
Sincerely yours,
