Last year, BMW delivered the first series production car in the world with laser-assisted headlights—the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car. As amazing as Laserlight headlights were just a few short months ago, BMW has now given us a great look at what they’re going to be.
BMW selected the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada to introduce what they call intelligent lighting and we have to agree; it looks pretty smart. The vehicle BMW chose to demo the new lighting technology is the BMW M4 Concept Iconic Lights. It’s hard to go wrong basing a concept car on the new M4, It’s an excellent choice, in our opinion, especially in the Cool White metallic paint on the example shown at CES.
First, the big number—650. Laserlight extends a BMW’s effective headlight illumination out to 650 yards. That, by itself, is impressive, but wait until you see what goes with that in the M4 Concept Iconic Lights.
You would think that a 650-yeard high beam would melt the retinas of oncoming drivers and you’d almost be right—if it weren’t for the accompanying camera-based BMW Selective Beam function. BMW describes this as an anti-dazzle high beam assistant that is controlled by dynamic actuators, and prevents oncoming or preceding vehicles from being dazzled. The Selective Beam Function allows the laser high beam to be left on at all times. Check out the video below to see how it works.
Since practically everything electronic in the car is computer controlled and much of it is interconnected, it’s no surprise that BMW has linked Laserlight with the navigation system so that the car knows when corners are coming up and can illuminate them in advance.
A infrared camera can identify potential dangers along the road such as people or animals. The possible threats are then “spotlighted” by the system’s laser-based Dynamic Light Spot and illuminated 100 yards in advance, giving the driver that extra margin of warning.
The car is able to detect road obstructions at night, such as construction sites with narrowing or merging lanes, or even vehicles parked too far into the roadway. The laser headlights can provide “narrow clearance” lighting and a laser projection appears indicating the exact width of the vehicle so that the driver can see if it will fit through the narrow space. If it helps keep all the Cool White metallic paint intact, we say that’s a good thing.
The M4 Concept Iconic Lights uses its ability for laser projection to display driver information seemingly directly onto the road head so that drivers never have to take their eyes off the road or the traffic. It may be the ultimate head-up display.
The M4 Concept Iconic Lights maintains the traditional BMW design cue of twin round headlights, in a stylized fashion at least.
The lighting in the front of the M4 Concept Iconic Lights model is impressive. So are the lights in the back. The rear light clusters use organic light-emitting diodes or OLEDs, similar to the ones BMW used on its BMW Vision Future Luxury concept sedan last year. OLED light comes from wafer-thin semiconducting layers of organic material. They can be positioned to produce a three-dimensional effect, take up much less space than conventional tail lights, and use much less power. OLEDs produce light uniformly over their entire surface instead of at a single point like typical LEDs or incandescent light bulbs. Each OLED module can be controlled separately, so the look and activity of OLED units are almost limitless.
BMW calls this BMW Organic Light, and on the BMW M4 Concept Iconic Lights model, it is used in the tail lights and rear direction indicators. By activating the OLED segments individually, it is possible to create different rear lighting effects in different driving modes. Whereas normally the L-shape is wide and uniformly illuminated, in Sport mode a different-shaped light pattern can be created by activating only some of the OLED segments. The rear light then appears as a narrow and sharply defined strip of light.
The M4 Concept Iconic Lights at the 2015 CES is a show car, but it also hints at technology that is very close to production. Industry observers speculate that this lighting technology will show up soon. We don’t know when or which model, but the next-generation 7 Series is due for a reveal later this year and might make a good candidate. The fact that BMW chose an M car as the concept might lead us to believe that BMW might be considering a Motorsports model to be the first into production with these lighting systems.
Most of us couldn’t make it to the Consumer Electronics Show this year but the people at Epicroads did, and they made an excellent video of the BMW M4 Concept Iconic Lights display. It’s actually as much a simulation as a display, and we’re happy to show it to you in the video below. Enjoy.—Scott Blazey
P.S. There is a brief portion at the end of the video that covers Audi lighting. Watch at your own risk.
[Video courtesy of Epicroads. Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
