LED headlamps light the way for Mercedes

MERCEDES-BENZ has revealed a new LED headlamp design, that will light the way for its future cars with beams that extend further and adapt more intuitively to suit prevailing conditions and other road users.

The German car-maker's E-Class and S-Class were the first of its vehicles to receive LED headlights in 2013, but the brand’s more advanced Multibeam headlamps made up of 24 individual LEDs debuted on CLS-Class this year.

Now the company has developed the technology further with 84 LEDS per headlamp which enables a higher resolution of the light output, extending the range from 485m offered by the current headlight to more than 600m.

The freely configurable and digitally controlled light distribution means more high and low-beam adaptive functions are possible, making life brighter for all road users.

Mercedes' Multibeam LED system uses a camera mounted at the top of the windscreen to scan the road ahead and controls each diode individually.

With greater flexibility and control, the headlights can more rapidly adapt to terrain – such as hills and corners, while also 'masking' other vehicles to avoid dazzling the driver.

Mercedes-Benz head of light systems development Uwe Kostanzer said the system has been enhanced to improve visibility not just for Benz drivers, but for everbody sharing the road.

“Enabling ideal visibility in all driving situations without dazzling other road users has always been our credo in developing new light systems,” he said.

“We are pursuing the further development of LED technology to this end.”

Mercedes-Benz said the new light system would be arriving “soon”, but before then, the current 24 LED Multibeam headlights will be upgraded with a new 1024 pixel LED chip which will advance performance further still.

According to Mercedes, the next LED technology update will debut on an experimental vehicle in 2015.