BMW Laser headlights
 

Hope this is not a repost, but thought you all might find it intresting.

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Washington— BMW AG will introduce the next generation of head lights — laser lighting on its BMW i8 — that could cut energy use in half compared to LED lights.

In April at the New York International Auto Show, the German automaker said it planned to sell a small number of i8 vehicles — a supercar with an electric motor and a hybrid gasoline engine — starting in 2014. At the Frankfurt Auto Show this month, BMW will show the i8 Concept - and the i3, which goes on sale in 2013.

BMW has already introduced advances in LED headlamps for the BMW 6 Series and with new developments such as the "Anti-dazzle High-Beam Assistant" and the "Dynamic Light Spot" that automatically illuminates pedestrians in real time, to help drivers avoid them.

BMW engineers are already working on the introduction of laser light as a further pioneering technology for broader production within a few years. Laser light could help reduce energy and fuel respectively — because it is much more efficient.

Laser light produces virtually parallel light beams — and laser lighting is monochromatic — the light waves all have the same length.

BMW said laser lighting can produce a near-parallel beam with an intensity a thousand times greater than that of conventional LEDs. Laser headlights have less than half the energy consumption of LED headlights.

The automkaer said the intensity of laser light poses no possible risks to humans, animals or wildlife when used in car lighting — because the light is not emitted directly, but is first converted into a form that is suitable for use in road traffic.

Because laser diodes are one hundred times smaller even than the small, square-shaped cells used in conventional LED lighting, the traditional headlight size could disappear.

BMW said laser lights opens up all sorts of new possibilities when integrating the light source into the vehicle. But the German automaker said it has no plans to radically reduce the size of the headlights however, although that would be theoretically possible.

Before the light from the tiny laser diodes is emitted onto the road, the originally bluish laser light beam is converted by a fluorescent phosphorous material inside the headlight into a pure white light.



From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110901/...z1XC3HgZ18From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110901/...#ixzz1XC3HgZ18

I always hate it when I'm a pedestrian and people shine their brights in my face.

I also anticipate this being a problem for objects the software doesn't recognize and illuminate, as the driver will become complacent "hey the dynamic light spot didn't activate, so it isn't my fault I ran over your kid".