The BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports car is the first mass-production car in the world to make use of laser technology in its headlamps. All lighting components on the BMW i8 – including indicators – are LED as standard, but laser can be specified for the high-beam as a cost option.
When in use, the laser headlamps give off a pure white light that’s five times brighter than conventional LED units, offers twice the visibility range and uses less than half the energy, all the while being pleasant to the human eye. Thanks to a light-emitting surface that’s 100 times smaller, the beam is more focussed as well, which should reduce dazzle for oncoming drivers.
Watch the video above to learn more, or digest the full details of the BMW i8 here.
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must be expensive like hell just for the headlamp only
it certainly is a cool technology to feature in a car but… isn’t 300 meter of visibility using LED high beam good enough? 600 meter? i suppose the i8 can go real fast that it will cover 300 meter in no time and thus LED high beam doesn’t qualified to be used. hmm…
Pariah scum BMW should come out with 5 years warranty instead of all this crap. Nobody interested. BMW owners want longer warranties. Not your tipu 2 years warranty. Only car company in the world, not just Malaysia, that is offering ONLY 2 years warranty
Hi please stick with your hilux for the rest of your life.Toyota have the best warranty and RV in the world,so leave us alone.
im worried about the intensity of the light, if you were to look into the mirror im sure you’d get blinded by its brightness, as he said it has a smaller surface area for the light to emit, this is only more worrying as despite being “safe” for human eyes, i really doubt its going to be pleasant to look at, and as the others said, its not necessary for car headlights to be too bright as well.
can’t imagine the oncoming car, those laser will be blinding their eye temporary
If everyone bought a bmw with this laser beam the government can switch off all the street lights to save the planet !!! bmw is better than ferrari !
how far can a human eye, actually see
Laser beam headlight. Will it cut any object/car in front of it?
seems like something coming from Austin Power movies…
but in actual fact, car manufacturers are also coming up with laser spark plugs for petrol engines which dont require replacement at all.
brilliant, right?
this idea is not so new. It normal idea for me. It just BMW is the first car maker to materialize it. So, from my perspective it is good but nothing to “wow” about it…
Ya the idea of flying to moon also not new to me. It just that the russian materialize it. nothing to wow.
Tis is real R&D…hire the best..unlike Potong, received hundreds of millions from gomen for ” R &D” each year but came up with endless ” SV” models
This entry title is a bit misleading. Neither the article nor the video explains the tech. They just talk about how good the laser light is. It’s more like an ad to promote BMW i8 feature.
ya, even now i don’t know how the light can actually be pleasant to human eyes, and offers all the visibility. were the lights in the video on high beam or they were still on low beam? it seems BMW doesn’t even bother to show the difference between LED high beam vs LED Laser high beam to human eyes.
Malaysian ah beng car enthusiast will install lasers on their headlamps, fog lamps, signal lights, third brake lights and blind the shit out of other car users.
ya..agree,many “spot light” car on the road but still slow like turtle.very doubtful are they blind or what..install laser n point to their rear view mirror next time ..
LOL! so true! First LED, now LASER. Next missile launcher. James Bond, anyone?
when they fix it on the car dont u think the researchers already did their homework? even a proper HID or LED lights are projected on to the ground now like those ah beng Myvis or Potong Zaka with HID adjusted so Hai like the driver and iritate other motorists
In geman autoband highway, u need this kind of laser light as this I8 can easily travel above 100mph, and u need highbeam light to see as far as u can.
I wonder how it performs in heavy rain and fog conditions?
White light has very short wave length. It is useless in heavy rain, fog or when the road is wet.