Light-Emitting Diodes in Automotive Forward Lighting Applications: Materials Engineering Solutions to Fundamental Challenges

Innovative LED lighting solutions have become more prevalent in automotive signal lighting during the past few years. However, to date, there has been no penetration into the various forward lighting applications. This is primarily due to significant materials engineering and optical design challenges that have made LEDs impractical or impossible to use in forward lighting applications where harsh environs and exacting beam pattern requirements exist. This paper will focus on these challenges, discuss recent progress in LED technology and, for the first time, demonstrate an LED source with comparable luminance to a filament bulb light source.