Audi’s LED headlights are key feature in Super Bowl ad
03 Feb 2012
Audi has released its advertisement that will run during Sunday’s Super Bowl game. It highlights the company’s distinct LED headlights.
Audi has released its latest advertisement that demonstrates the distinct LED headlight design used on its automobiles. The ad will air during the first quarter of the Super Bowl football game this Sunday.
The video shows an outdoor party of teen vampires and a fellow vampire who attempts to join the party as he drives up in the new Audi S7, only to have the LED headlights, which mimic daylight, zap the party-goers into thin air.
"In the spot, Audi LEDs – which at 5500 Kelvin produce the closest recreation of daylight available – put an end to the vampire party, and perhaps, to the greater vampire trend in pop culture," said Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer of Audi of America.
Keogh added, "Given the power of the Super Bowl platform, we wanted to create an entertaining spot that clearly focused on our LED headlights - one of our key product attributes - while also sparking conversation about whether or not it's time for us to move on from the omnipresent vampire trend into something new and even more exciting."
Audi first featured a full-LED headlight design in 2008 on its R8. They are also used on the A6 luxury sedan. On the A8, ten LED modules make up the low beam in a wing-shaped pattern, while an underlying string of 22 white and 22 yellow LEDs constitute the daytime running lights and turn signals. The white LEDs use a color temperature of 5500K to match daylight and enhance contrast of roadway objects.
The LED luminaire design is combined with intelligent features such as a high-beam assistant that automatically detects the headlights of oncoming traffic and the rear lights of other road users and responds by varying the position and width of the LED headlights accordingly.
Audi has stated that in the first year of sales, cars equipped with LED headlights accounted for a reduction of 25,000 tons of CO2 emissions. LED headlights are four times as efficient as halogen lamps and they require the vehicle’s alternator to replenish less energy, saving fuel.
About the Author
Laura Peters is a Senior Technical Editor with LEDs Magazine.
COMMENTS
Name: desert Posted: Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:02
Concerning the new LED headlights. I would like to know their lumen output relative to current HID Xenon projection lights, which are at about 3200 lumens at 4300K.
Also what is meant by "high beam assistant" Does the beam pattern change at the high beam setting, but does not get brighter, like in projection HID's ??
I am not asking about the accent LED lights, I am referring to the DOT headlights
Name: lighting designer Posted: Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:02
So destructive, both in the ad and in real life. Blue light is not good for the body at night. Warm light is. That intensity of blue night at night on a highway can blind the oncoming driver at low beams for 1/2 minute and at high beams for a whole minute. I tell my lighting clients to look at the side of the road, not at the headlights. If a driver has any kind of eye problems, the brilliant blue light makes it worse. EEK!
Administrators Reply
My understanding is that temporary blindness would be caused by the design of the optics, rather than by the blue component of the light.
Name: dennis m Posted: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:02
A great product line - that just happens to have superior
solid state components, some of those being those tremendous
headlights - If the headlights were just 'distinctive looking "
they would have merit, but its my understanding that their performance
is enhanced with reactive controls. Top flight engineering that
turns heads ! Way to go Audi !
Name: rminnicks Posted: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:09
Laura, now that BMW are using LED head light can you describe them a little more. I would like to know how they function and what they are made of . Do they only function at full power or can they function at a lower power 10% less for low beams. Or do they de power some of the LEDS? Between high and low beams. Also would like to know what chemical element these super white LED. Are made off. I am a master tech at a BMW dealer and have been asked these question from customers, and have been trying to find answers with no luck. Hope you can help. Thanks
