Creativity and innovation for a bright future
What are the latest trends in heavy vehicle lighting? What will happen to vehicle lighting as autonomous vehicles become increasingly ubiquitous? These are the types of questions that TYRI’s Research and Development department contemplates while monitoring industry trends and developing new innovations and technologies.
Christian Wadell, Head of Product and Design Development, looks to the future and offers his predictions about the
lighting of tomorrow.
Engineers, technicians, and designers in TYRI’s Research and Development department work assiduously to maintain and develop technology and designs for TYRI’s standard range, and they are frequently tasked with customising products to meet specific customer preferences. And, from time to time, TYRI also collaborates directly with a customer’s design team to develop a completely new product. The task is then to develop suitable technology for the customer’s design wishes. To continue to contribute innovative solutions to lighting also requires the Research and Development department to constantly monitor global trends in the industry and attempt to predict new innovations and technologies. According to Christian, there are several areas with huge potential, including lighting with laser technology.
DRIVERLESS HEAVY VEHICLES
Another noticeable trend in the industry is the increase in the number of autonomous heavy vehicles and heavy equipment in use that do not require an operator behind the wheel. How will the need for lighting change when autonomous machines, which do not require light to operate, become more commonplace?
“Here one can either predict a death sentence for heavy vehicle lighting or choose to view it as an opportunity and adapt the development of lighting. Even if autonomous heavy vehicles will impact the industry as seems to be the case today, I think that the development pertaining to autonomous vehicles can encourage the discovery of new ways of working with lighting,” says Christian.
“Instead of illuminating an area for operators, we can use the lighting to provide safety and security in the surrounding area. Warning lights can communicate to people in the area which ‘mode’ the vehicle is operating in – and this will be particularly important when it comes to electric vehicles which can barely be heard. In this, different light colours can communicate the machine’s operation. I believe that light communication like this will usher in a new era for the industry and we must make sure we keep up.”
When the purpose of lighting is not solely to increase visibility but also to convey various messages and warning signals, behavioural science will become a new aspect in lighting development. The meanings of different lights and colours must be just as clear as the way the observer interprets the message. TYRI’s organisation is constantly evolving and bringing in experts from diverse disciplines in order to address the lighting needs of tomorrow. Despite the growing number of autonomous vehicles, Christian thinks it is unlikely that all types of vehicles and machines will undergo this development.
“That’s why we will focus heavily on both the further development of existing lighting products and on work involving future lighting communication.”
NEW CHALLENGES IN DESIGN
TYRI has a great passion for design and has a strong team of designers, both in Sweden and in the United States.
“These are exciting times for working with design, and I see a clear upward trend in the industry. Lighting is becoming an increasingly important part of design, and a lot of exciting developments are underway with regard to lighting. Looking at design in the automotive industry, for example, we see that lighting there is also becoming a brand hallmark,” says Christian.
