“The vehicle interior is increasingly boosting the feel-good factor"

Date: Friday 30 April 2021

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Interior lighting products from HELLA, the lighting and electronics expert, offer various options for creating a vehicle-specific interior design and indeed a thoroughly unique experience. The company has now for example, equipped the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class with complete ambient lighting that bestows upon passengers a unique kind of comfort and well-being.

“The vehicle interior is increasingly boosting the feel-good factor,” says Dr Frank Huber, HELLA Managing Director responsible for the Lighting Division. "The trend towards individualisation in combination with new technologies opens up a wide range of possibilities."

As a complete system integrator, HELLA develops lighting scenarios tailored to individual preferences. One example of this is the way HELLA's active ambient lighting is available as standard in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, with 64 colours and ten colour worlds. A total of 41 light guides, such as the all-round ambient lighting of the wide-screen cockpit, provide comfort highlights in the luxury vehicle and create decorative elements in the doors, the centre console, the seats and the roof lining. Seven individual small LED lights illuminate the footwell, glove compartment and other storage areas throughout the vehicle. And throughout all this, a HELLA control unit always ensures reliable control of the ambient lighting and a flowing transition of colour. The overall impression, coordinated down to the last detail as a system solution, contributes significantly to the unique ambience of the interior.

In addition however, HELLA is also working intensively on new lighting concepts for vehicle interiors because, with the advent of autonomous driving, every vehicle interior is being redefined.

“The interior of the car can ultimately be used in a variety of ways once the classic function of the driver is no longer at the forefront of the action,” explains Dr Huber.

The developers are therefore focusing on high-performance LED RGB modules and intelligent lighting systems that enable a variety of new functions. For example, they bring about ambient lighting scenarios that can create either a feel-good atmosphere or a work atmosphere. At the same time, they can be used to communicate specifically with the driver, such as the way in which illumination of a red light signal in the dashboard can visually warn of dangerous situations. This helps to avoid rear-end collisions and increases driving safety.

 

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