Laser headlamp: Experiences in motor sports for series development

Emerged and tested in motorsports, the laser technology is now ready to hit the real world streets. Recently, the laser technology was introduced into the motorsports in the Audi R18 etron quattro. Due to the high luminance and the small spread it was possible to double the range of visibility and to distribute the light precisely with advanced optical efficiency. As LED and laser have their own respective field of application the combination of both results in a competitive headlamp. The Audi R18 laser headlamp has been proved under strong conditions in different setups. Shaking the laser based white light source with centrifugal forces up to 6g is just one of them. Now laser headlamps are shortly before their first introduction into real world traffic. For the serial car one can use the released laser headlamp racing concept. Therefore safety requirements have to be checked and adapted to realistic road conditions. Additionally the use-case has to be fitted to the series application as well as to the cooling concept. Not only will this paper explain these innovations in detail but also it will give an outlook into the future with an overview of new high dynamic laser based technologies.