“Our Aurora Class vessels signify a breakthrough in sustainable ocean transportation and underscore our ambition to achieve zero emissions by 2040,” said Andreas Enger, CEO of Höegh Autoliners. “Achieving this ambitious target requires us to work with like-minded partners like Glamox. Equipping our new vessels with high-quality energy-saving marine lighting means less fuel is needed for lighting.”

The four new Aurora Class vessels are zero-carbon ready and can run on clean ammonia. The PCTCs have specially strengthened decks and enhanced internal ramp systems to enable them to transport electric vehicles on all decks and to provide more flexibility for heavier cargo.

Each vessel will be equipped with around 3,000 LED lights, including navigation lights, car deck lights, floodlights, searchlights, and lighting for all interiors of the vessels – from the engine room to the bridge, from the galley to crew quarters, and much more.

Maurizio Martinelli, CEO of Valeo Light Division, stated: “This partnership strengthens Valeo’s global leadership in next-generation lighting, combining safety, adaptability, and an enhanced driving experience. Leveraging our combined expertise in automotive lighting hardware and software, this new partnership reinforces existing technology alliances and reflects a shared ambition to redefine smart automotive lighting.”

Yu Xin, Vice President of Appotronics, said: “The Appotronics-Valeo partnership represents a transformative step in smart automotive lighting, combining our complementary strengths to advance next-generation illumination solutions. Together, we’re accelerating innovations that prioritize safety, intelligent adaptability, and personalized driving experiences for the global market.”

As a technology premiere, Marelli showcased its concept product, the “Pixel Rear Lamp”, which integrates high-resolution display technology into the taillights, leveraging OLED-TFT technology to embrace the trend of dynamic light communication and personalization. Thanks to this innovation, the pixel rear lamp can display vehicle status and driving intention information to other road users in the form of dynamic images, thereby significantly Marelli’s Near-Field Ground Projection enables dynamic color projections on the ground. As the respective modules can be mounted in front, rear and on sides of the vehicle, a 360-degree lighting impression is created. This revolutionary technology significantly enhances vehicle safety and greatly improves interaction between the vehicle, users, and other traffic participants.

According to TrendForce, the Micro LED chip market is projected to expand from $28 million in 2024 to $745 million by 2029, with an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 93%. This forecast does not yet account for the potential expansion in AI optical communication, highlighting the immense prospects of Micro LED.

Further advancing its next-generation innovations, Ennostar has successfully reduced chip size by 40%, while simultaneously lowering production costs, enhancing resolution and luminous efficiency, and accelerating market adoption. Through its i-Pixel® product series, Ennostar leverages an advanced chip-scale packaging (CSP) platform to deliver higher brightness, lower power consumption, and 3D packaging solutions, meeting diverse application needs.

“Vehicle displays are becoming more pervasive and sophisticated, which calls for an increasingly precise combination of brightness and LED hiding to deliver the best image quality for drivers,” said Scott Thorley, vice president of product and program management at BrightView. “Our portfolio is engineered to help make the process easier for vehicle developers, combining capabilities for enhanced brightness and uniformity with efficiency and cost-effectiveness using super thin, ultra-light display films.”

BrightView’s mini-LED display films are engineered with cutting edge micro lens array (MLA) technology that consist of microscale lenses used to manage and shape light. As opposed to conventional diffusers that rely on light scattering, MLAs use refraction and total internal reflection to manage optics and provide better light uniformity and local dimming performance. BrightView’s MLA offerings are bolstered by the company’s roll-to-roll manufacturing process which produces larger, “pillar-to-pillar” displays to meet high-volume production needs for vehicles.

Like the H7-LED lamp, the H4-LED is brighter, lasts longer and produces a more attractive light than the halogen lamps fitted to older vehicles when they were manufactured.

Tests conducted under the supervision of TÜV Süd show that the Night Breaker H4-LED produces 230% more light than the minimum required under the ECE R112 standard for halogen headlamps, and with 50% less glare. This means that cars fitted with the Night Breaker can see and be seen better.

In addition, the Night Breaker H4-LED lasts up to five times longer than a standard halogen lamp. This reduces the frequency of visits to the service center for lamp replacement, as well as saving on the cost of replacing failed lamps.

The central element of the design is in the middle of the radiator grille: the radome, a translucent cover for radar systems, adorns the new Peugeot brand logo. “The radome is not only an important eye-catcher, but is also becoming increasingly important in the future with a view to autonomous driving. After all, it protects the sensors, which are essential for autonomous driving, from environmental influences and ensures their functionality,” says Dr. Frank Huber, Managing Director-Lighting Division, HELLA.

In the Peugeot 308, the radome conceals the automatic cruise control ACC with Stop & Go function including lane departure warning. The hook-shaped LED daytime running lights additionally emphasize the brand’s typical appearance at the front of the vehicle. The striking light is in the rear lighting with LED tail lights displaying the typical three claws. The implementation with EdgeLight technology creates a spatial 3D effect, which ensures a high recognizability of the vehicle on the road.

Due to the growing demand for electric vehicles, the interest in high-efficiency LED products for a light headlamp and less batteries consumption is increasing. Accordingly, the thermal dissipation performance of the headlamp has become an important task in order to improve the efficiency and lifetime against the temperature increase.

Seoul Semiconductor’s WICOP TE for headlamps has deviated from the previous method of attaching the LED package to the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and can attach the package directly on the heatsink, designed to quickly discharge the heat generated in the headlamp.

As Un Soo Kim, Senior Vice President of the LED Business Team at Samsung Electronics, explains, PixCell LED is based on a new lighting technology designed to improve road safety and driving convenience. It is much more than a simple automotive lighting source.

ADB is an advanced driver assistance technology designed to help secure maximum driving visibility. In order to prevent glare to other drivers, ADB automatically adjusts headlight beam patterns when it detects any object near a moving vehicle, thereby preventing any unnecessary glare. Recent developments in future automotive technologies, such as autonomous and connected driving, have been raising the bar for vehicle safety standards and ultimately boosting demand for ADB systems.

Kim revealed, “Beginning with PixCell LED, we will introduce tailored lighting solutions well-suited for future automobiles, including electric and autonomous vehicles.”

The technology

Leveraging Samsung’s longstanding expertise in semiconductor technology, the new PixCell LED can monolithically integrate more than 100 ultra-small segments into a single LED chip, while making the light-emitting area significantly smaller.

These LED segments are separated by a silicon wall to prevent optical cross-talk, and in turn, offer superior contrast for much greater driver visibility. Each segment functions like a pixel to meticulously control light distribution, as it distinguishes on and off areas so that the beam from the headlight only illuminates the exact location where it is needed.

With the light-emitting area shrunk to 1/16 of conventional discrete LED modules for ADB systems, the PixCell LED can reduce the headlamp size by 30-50%, allowing greater freedom in designing sleeker and more elegant lamps.

Designed using software

The light distribution and brightness levels of the PixCell LED are designed using automotive lighting software, making them easily adjustable to meet diverse regulations and requirements for automotive lamps around the world. Based on a single standard headlamp design, lamp makers can customize light output to suit varying design needs – and enjoy reduced lead time for development, production, supply and time-to-market.

Application in electric cars

Samsung has begun shipping its PixCell LEDs to lamp manufacturers for use in next-generation electric cars. The company has already provided enough PixCell LEDs to light more than 300,000 electric vehicles.

The technology was first brought into series production in the truck sector last spring. On the basis of numerous successfully acquired major orders both for passenger cars, including one from a German premium customer, and for trucks, further production starts will follow in the near future. HELLA is also already developing the second 77GHz radar generation, which will go into series production for another German premium manufacturer in 2024.

“With our innovative 77GHz radar sensors, we are continuing to drive the trend towards automated driving. By using highly efficient hardware and smart software, we are taking radar-based 360-degree environment perception to the next level and are thus driving safe mobility,” said Björn Twiehaus, a member of the HELLA Management Board and one of the responsible persons for the Electronics division of HELLA.