Taillights have been around since the dawn of the automobile industry, fulfilling a safety need: to be seen. In the course of its development, its safety has been continuously improved by functions such as reversing lights and fog lights; after that, the lighting device has become larger and easier to see; with the use of LEDs, the lighting speed is faster, The beam is also more stable. Nevertheless, the photometric values required by regulations have been stable for decades. But the regulations have also moved in the other direction, initially allowing high-mounted stop lights, emergency stop lights, and hazard lights to be made mandatory. The ARS, which is still optional in the regulations, is also intended to make the use of taillights safer in difficult conditions.
In addition to the most important safety, the importance of taillights to the styling design is also getting more and more attention. To be precise, taillights are the most important element to highlight the characteristics of the rear of the vehicle.
In the past few years, styling design requirements have been the real driving force for innovation in taillights, and this trend is likely to continue in the future.
Before the advent of the LED era, it was quite a challenge for a light bulb to fulfill a function and maintain the original shape. However, the design requirements are constantly escalating: uniform light color, as large a red exterior as possible, crystal appearance, perfect fit and surface treatment process, etc., resulting in a series of innovations in optical systems, such as the use of reflectors, Fresnel and colored interiors Filter combination, there are many complex processes, such as multi-color injection molding, etc., to meet the needs of different shapes and designs.
The emergence of LEDs breaks the original design rules and provides designers with unlimited creative possibilities, because LEDs have the following characteristics: compact size, low-temperature light emission, pure light color, and how many LEDs can be used at will.
LED light guide is an important breakthrough, no matter it is tubular or planar, it has the characteristics of thin, long and decorative elements. OLED brings new design ingenuity to surface-emitting design.
With these wide-ranging technical possibilities, the most popular design trends are slimmer, slender and through-style taillights, illuminated logos, and precise interior decoration that looks like a display.
But most importantly, OEMs need to use taillights to highlight the uniqueness of the models. Regardless of whether it is lit or not, taillights are an important element in achieving a high degree of vehicle recognition.
Animated lights are an important trend no matter for the design or marketing department, such as: flowing water turn signals, various welcome scene animated lights, because the vehicle is stationary when using the welcome lights, so the design can be exempted from regulations bondage.
In the not-too-distant future, taillights will surely carry the heavy burden of innovation in safer, more connected cars: taillights with displays, projections on the road, and perhaps Lifi, will gradually evolve from "visible" safety equipment to more complete Communication tools that improve visibility while identifying messages to communicate with other road users, including increasingly autonomous vehicles.
Taillights occupy two strategic positions in the rush to assemble a large number of sensors in self-driving cars, and various sensors including cameras and radars may take advantage of their internal integration to provide better vision and detection capabilities.
Therefore, the future of taillights will continue the important task of beautifying the shape, but there will also be expected practical functions to further improve driving safety.
