Mapping of European Premium OEM’s LED Headlight Suppliers, 2017

Automakers across the globe are increasingly showing more interest towards light emitting diodes (LEDs) as they offer better luminescence, have a superior service life, consume lower amounts of energy, and have greater design flexibility for creating different shapes and sizes. This research service explores the current LED driver sourcing strategy of the European premium original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as the industry migrates to more sophisticated LED systems. The study gives detailed model-wise information of LED driver supplier.

A lot of emphasis is being put on how the same lighting systems can be used to differentiate the vehicle from the competition. In combination with advanced driver assistance systems, the LED headlights offer adaptive front lighting solutions (AFS) such as cornering light, dynamic levelling light, and motorway lights which optimize distribution of light from the headlights according to driving conditions thereby enhancing visibility and safety. LED requires constant current because any change in current affects the color and brightness of the light; Moreover, increase in current will increase the junction temperature of the device. Without the proper LED driver, the LED may become too hot and unstable, leading to poor performance or even total failure. Hence, the ability to supply constant current forms the basic operating requirements for a LED driver. LED drivers can be designed to offer a combination of series and parallel LED control and this provides circuit designers the flexibility to control LEDs in different applications with a single driver rather than requiring different devices that increase qualification testing. Currently, the penetration of LEDs for applications such as daytime running lamps (DRLs), rear-combination lamps, turn signal lamps, and stop lamps is high. The only area in which the penetration of LED is low is in headlamp application, this is primarily because of the high complexity of these systems. While DRLs and rear-combination lamps require simple LED controllers, the headlights require complex LED drivers and this adds to the cost of the system. Also, sophisticated calibration features are required to ensure that every LED will render the same color and brightness over the full temperature range. In many cases, the capabilities of an LED driver can enable more than one application to be addressed with the same LEDs.

The objectives of the study are as follows:
• Provide insights on the supply chain of LED headlamps for MY2017 vehicles
• Develop an actionable set of recommendation
• Highlight the business opportunities and challenges for suppliers