Varroc Urges US Government to Adopt European Norms for Automotive Lighting

Varroc Lighting Systems Inc, the US subsidiary of the Indian company, Varroc Group. has developed a lighting system called adaptive-drive beam that eliminates the need for drivers to manually switch between high and low beams while driving at night. The adaptive-drive beam makes it possible to keep the high beam on all the time as it does not blind oncoming motorists and minimizes the possibility of accidents.

Varroc Lighting Systems Inc was formed when the Varroc Group acquired Visteon Corp.’s lighting pision in a USD 92 million deal in 2012.Called ADB, the adaptive-drive beam senses the environment and turns inpidual LED lights in the cluster of LED lights on and off to function effectively. The LED lights-system has almost 40 lights and of these about six or seven are switched off to create a black-box effect around vehicles in the beam of light.

According to Scott Montessi, director of product development for Varroc Lighting, currently the automotive lighting scene is undergoing renaissance. There have not been many developments in the past 60 years, but now there have been several innovations and technologies like the LED that are completely changing the scenario.

The ADB system adjusts the light using cameras that already exist in high-end models for safety functions like emergency-braking systems and lane-departure warning to detect light from oncoming vehicles.

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Montessi said ADB, and other innovative systems like organic light-emitting diode and laser-based systems, are now playing a much bigger role in automotive safety. Using ADB, the motorist can benefit from almost 100 feet or more of visibility when compared to traditional automotive headlamps. This gives the driver 1-2 seconds more of reaction time. Varroc’s ADB technology will be used on European models from 2017 onwards.

Varroc has joined other companies in supporting a drive for U.S. regulators to adopt European standards for a new lighting technology. Other companies which have supported the use of ADB technology are Audi and Toyota Motor Corp. Toyota had even petitioned the U.S. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) to either permit or make ADB systems mandatory in the U.S. Montessi expressed his hope that U.S. regulations will come into effect in the next 12-18 months.