The Future of Headlights is in LED

Next year will mark a new milestone in the world of headlights manufacturing. This is because automakers are making a big switch in favor of LED. As a fact, car headlights manufacturers are now busy composing tiny LEDs for future auto headlights.

LED, short for light-emitting diode, is a semiconductor device that gives off incoherent narrow-spectrum light when electrically biased in the frontward path. The light formation is a form of electroluminescence. In addition, the colors emitted by the LEDs are dependent on the condition and composition of the semi-conducting material like infrared or ultraviolet.

LEDs were introduced since the 1970s. They were incorporated in wristwatches. Moreover, their lighting applications were applied only in recent years. Now, it is used in taillights and traffic signals and eventually, it will lead the auto industry to dramatic change in headlights. The rationale behind car headlights with LED is to make them brighter to illuminate the roads better.

Car headlights, which will be employing LEDs, are bright enough to light up the streets at night. Said headlights are also long-lasting, sophisticated and long-lasting. A8 Audi headlights are LED daytime running lights. Said vehicle is Audi's first attempt in LED lights. S6 and S8 followed the A8. Audi announced that its upcoming car – R8 sports car, which will be introduced in the United States next year, will also use LED.

"We are working on LED headlights. We hope to have them after 2007," said Audi spokesman Jeff Kuhlman. "For now, it's so expensive it'll be for niche models," added Michael Hamm, head of the innovative lighting unit at Automotive Lighting in Reutlingen, Germany. Hamm works with Audi on the LED headlights.

One drawback of LED headlights is that they are costly. Hamm said that they could cost 8 times as much as already expensive high-intensity discharge of HID lights. The latter are icy blue headlights that produce too much glare. HID headlights can run $800 to $1,000 a pair to replace, said Fred Snow, an executive of automotive lighting company Hella, who manned a display at the Specialty Equipment Market Association.

LED headlights will also be used by Escalade. Cadillac Escalade headlights will be using LEDs to give the vehicle a unique signature. Further, Lexus LS and Lincoln Navigator will also be incorporating LEDs in the future.