Infineon-Nichia matrix headlamp on the streets this year

After three years of development, the Nichia – Infineon micro-led-based light engine for matrix-style vehicle headlamps will be seen “in a German premium vehicle” this year, according to Infineon.

Matrix headlights use projection optics to project an image of a rectangular array of light sources (in this case ‘micro-leds’) ahead of the vehicle, allowing any shape of headlight beam to be achieved with no moving parts.

Although this technology can produce traditional ‘main’ and ‘dip’ style beams, its real value lies in producing instantaneously-optimised beam patterns by using feedback from forward-facing sensors via computation – essentially allowing illumination of everything except where the eyes of on-coming road users are likely to be.

This emitter has over 16,000 individual light sources, and the light engine includes the video interface for pattern generation and thermal monitoring.

One can only wonder how much Osram would have liked to have been inside that collaboration….