What is road driving going to be like in the future? Volkswagen has displayed its new vehicle lighting systems to show automotive LED lightings which project information onto the road and provide communication functions between cars to further improve road safety.

The German automotive manufacturer has introduced interactive headlights and tail light clusters which not only enhance safety but also increase personalized vehicle design. Volkswagen’s engineers and designers have utilized all the technologies available to them when developing new automotive lighting to extend functions of lighting and to boost road safety.

(Image: Volkswagen)

Interactive lighting functions are the next step for automotive lighting. Volkswagen’s new lighting systems will include micro-pixel HD headlights with up to 30,000 light points and high-performance LED headlights as alternative to laser light. These micro-pixel HD headlights will project information directly onto the road and the technology also enables new assist systems such as “Optical Lane Assist.” In this system, the headlights project lanes in front of the cars to give drivers precise information about the width of the SUV (including trailer) and the distance to the road lane markings.

(Image: Volkswagen)

The tail lights are also advanced with new systems such as the matrix tail light cluster. Matrix tail light clusters enable warning information to be incorporated into the tail lights, showing dangerous situations such as the end of a traffic jam through car-to-car communication. Moreover, the micro-lens-based “Optical Park Assist” system can improve safety while maneuvering by projecting the vehicle’s path onto the road to alert pedestrians while parking.