Car Headlights

While I have been spouting/preaching/pontificating the benefits of LED-based headlights for some time now, and they've been used in everything from flashlights to camera-phone flashes, there are some places that they are just now becoming viable option. I told you about the Raleigh, NC plans to use LEDs in parking garages and you can buy LED lights for your home, too. In cars, though, they've been limited to tail lights and interior lighting. Until now.

Lexus has just introduced their flagship luxury land-yacht, the LS 600h-L. Yes, this is the beast that can park itself (a $6000 option, I believe) and in this iteration features a hybrid V-8 engine. But that's not the interesting part, at least, not to me. No, the interesting part is that for the first time ever, the low beams on a car will be comprised of LEDs -- Audi does have a similar thing going with the R8 sports car, but I believe the Lexus will be beat the R8 to market.

That's right, all of the lighting on this car -- minus the high beams -- is sourced from a diode. The tail lights, the instrument lights, the dome lights, the puddle lamps that illuminate the drivers' and passengers' feet, the turn signals and, now, the low beams are all LEDs. Gone, for the most part, is the need to replace bulbs on this car.

For now, this sort of lighting is limited to the unbelievably expensive price point, but it's only a matter of time before the advances in lighting that we cyclists have been enjoying trickle down to more mundane and affordable vehicles.