People cannot help asking: LED headlights already have the advantages of energy saving, long life, small size, low brightness attenuation, and corresponding fast speed. Why do we need laser pointer headlights? In fact, the laser light source is different from the ordinary light source, it is only a monochromatic light source, the light has only one wavelength, so this characteristic can make the laser illumination brightness stronger, and the light type can also be controlled accurately, quickly and safely.
Thanks to these characteristics, in addition to the advantages of LED lights, laser headlights have a higher brightness, which is a thousand times that of LED headlights, so the irradiation distance is longer, and the effective irradiation distance of laser headlights on BMW i8 models can reach up to 600 meters; in addition, the volume of the laser headlight assembly is smaller, which leaves more design space for car designers; more importantly, the laser headlight has higher lighting efficiency, so it is more energy-saving and will depend on it in the future. The advantages of battery-powered electric vehicles will be more obvious.
In addition to headlights, manufacturers such as Audi have also applied laser light sources to fog lamps, using the controllable characteristics of green laser pointer light sources to improve the visual effects of lights and improve driving safety. In addition, using the light-emitting characteristics of laser diodes, through light guide materials, lasers also have new application opportunities in automotive interior lighting. Just like the ad slogan of BMW i8: now with laser headlights, laser headlights may start a milestone development in the field of automotive lighting.
Lidar: Helping the development of autonomous vehicles. If automotive lighting is about to enter a new era, then another great era in the automotive industry is also coming, that is, self-driving cars. Self-driving cars use sensors and Internet of Vehicles technologies to collect data about the vehicle and the surrounding environment of the vehicle. The on-board computer uses these real-time data as a basis for judgment to control the vehicle’s acceleration, braking and steering systems, so as to achieve unmanned control. A technology for driving by yourself.
In terms of real-time data collection, sensors installed on vehicles play a very critical role. These include cameras, radars, and ultrasonic sensors. In fact, these technologies have been widely used in today’s vehicles to improve driving safety, such as lane keeping, emergency braking systems, and reverse assist. However, these sensor technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages, and none of them can meet the demand in terms of realizing autonomous driving. And another technology for detection and ranging-the application of lidar in automobiles, complements each other with these sensors and accelerates the realization of self-driving cars.