Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology publicly solicited opinions and officially launched the revision of the standard "Installation Requirements for Exterior Lighting and Light Signaling Devices of Cars and Trailers", which will "draw a red line" for the safe use of car lights. The new standard is scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2028.
How to install "little blue light"? Who can pretend? Can car lights still display "emoticons" in the future?
L3 and above self-driving vehicles can optionally be equipped with “little blue lights”
Currently, there are a large number of L2-level assisted driving models on the market, which have a strong intelligent experience, but do not meet the assembly conditions for autonomous driving sign lights. According to the draft for comments, not all vehicles can be equipped with self-driving sign lights. They can only be installed on self-driving vehicles of L3 level (conditional self-driving) and above.
Xuan Yi, a senior expert in the field of automotive lighting at the China Institute of Automotive Standardization and the main drafter of the standard, said that L2 assisted driving vehicles are clearly not allowed to be installed in the standard, nor are they allowed to use autonomous driving sign lights. The standard allows L3 and above vehicles to be optionally equipped with autonomous driving sign lights. Once the vehicle is optionally equipped, it must meet all technical terms in the standard.
Experts said that the new installation requirements for autonomous driving sign lights are to enable road participants to quickly and accurately identify vehicle signals and improve the safety of interactions between people and vehicles.
The reporter learned that the new standards have clear requirements for the luminous intensity, luminous angle, and installation location of autonomous driving sign lights. At the same time, the light status must be deeply bound to the system. The sign light automatically lights up when the vehicle activates the corresponding driving function, and goes out automatically after the system exits. Manual turning on or off is prohibited.
“Blue-green” is the exclusive light color for autonomous driving sign lights
Previously, the "little blue light" was in the "standard blank" state, and the color, brightness, position, and intensity of each company were not uniform, which brought many practical risks. The new national standard finally selected “blue-green” as the exclusive light color for autonomous driving sign lights.
This choice not only refers to the formulation of international regulations and complies with the development trend of international automotive lighting technology, but also ensures that my country's lighting products can achieve good connection and compatibility with the international lighting standard system, avoid identification obstacles caused by differences in light color, and lay the foundation for the international layout of the industry.
Experts said that this light color takes into account the ability to undertake various aspects such as vehicle manufacturing, parts matching, testing and certification. After scientific consideration, blue-green not only ensures the recognizability of autonomous driving operating status in terms of recognition and warning effects, but also helps maintain road safety.
Will car lights be able to display “emoticons” in the future?
In addition to "little blue lights", many mass-produced cars are now equipped with interactive light language functions that can display text and interesting patterns.
The draft for comments clarifies that lighting effects such as "car light emoticons" will not be allowed to be used while the vehicle is driving. When a vehicle is driving on the road, the primary mission of the vehicle lights is to convey safety signals. Fancy light displays can easily cause visual interference to surrounding drivers and pedestrians.
The red lines appear to restrict lights, but in fact they protect everyone on the road. From the entry threshold of "little blue lights" to the exclusive "blue-green" light color to the prohibition of displaying text and "emoticons" while driving, the new national standard always points to the word safety.
