- Powerful: laser LED headlight system with more than 4,000 individually controllable pixels each
- Compact and efficient: digital design reduces complexity and saves installation space
- More safety: smart HD system integrates seamlessly into on-board electronics
Hanover, July 2019 – The deer at the roadside, the cyclist in black with a defective tail light – on dark roads, critical factors abound. Driving situations like these can be made safer with intelligent lighting. One of the goals of OSRAM Continental, the joint venture founded in 2018 by lighting specialist OSRAM and technology company Continental, is to take these functions to the next level. The innovative HD headlight system presented by OSRAM Continental in its show car at the Continental TechShow 2019 in Hanover from July 1 to 4, 2019 represents a first step in this direction.
Thanks to a high-resolution LED module in combination with laser technology and powerful digital components, this HD headlamp system offers a significant plus in safety. The system is based on so-called SMARTRIX-HD technology with a high number of individually controllable pixels. EVIYOS LEDs open up a wide range of possibilities for new, digitally controlled lighting functions that are both efficient and energy-saving. Since the HD headlamp system is controlled digitally, there are no mechanical components that control cornering lights, for example. This reduces both the complexity of the headlamp structure and the installation space required. The compact design above all offers advantages for the design of the headlamps and offers vehicle manufacturers far-reaching design options in the front of the vehicle.
In the future, not only smart, dynamic front lighting but also symbol and text projections around the vehicle will also be possible. © OSRAM Continental
Powerful headlamp with high energy efficiency
“One major advantage lies in the choice of the lamp itself: high-resolution pixel LEDs in combination with powerful laser components,” explains Dr. Maximilian Austerer, Head of Technical Business Development at OSRAM Continental. “Then there are the electronics. The SMARTRIX-HD system developed by OSRAM Continental consists of EVIYOS LEDs and appropriate control electronics integrated onto a single printed circuit board. This allows the pixels – 1,024 pixels per chip – to be individually controlled by the electronics.“ Each SMARTRIX-HD module contains two such EVIYOS LEDs. And each headlamp in turn has two SMARTRIX HD modules. This makes 4,096 pixels per headlight, which are equipped for a variety of lighting scenarios.
Each SMARTRIX HD module illuminates a compound lens consisting of two glass lenses and a plastic lens to ensure the highest light quality on the road at all times, whether high beam, low beam, or cornering lights. The smart digital control unit also makes it possible to only illuminate exactly the LED pixels that are currently needed.
Smart high beam automation offers more safety
The HD headlamp system with its adaptive, glare-free low beam is also equipped with a
laser auxiliary high beam with a range of up to 600 meters. The driver of a car with the HD headlamp system from OSRAM Continental simply switches to “Automatic”, and the smart lighting system takes over. Oncoming traffic is automatically removed from the light cone, so they experience no glare. At the same time, the light automatically follows the course of the road, for example in curves, and specifically illuminates traffic signs.
A smart digital HD headlamp system ensures optimum light distribution in all conditions – for both for the driver and others on the road. © OSRAM Continental
Assistance systems also gain more safety in the dark thanks to smart lighting technology: The HD headlamp system can be coupled with the sensors of other driver assistance systems to analyze, recognize, and deliberately illuminate events on the edge of the road in fractions of a second.
And that’s just the beginning of the world of HD headlamps
Significantly higher resolutions will allow even more precise control of the light distribution in the future. In addition, symbol or text projections around the car become possible. The vehicle will increasingly be able to communicate with its surroundings. These and other smart innovations are developed and produced by the OSRAM Continental team at 16 locations worldwide.