Enlarge / LEDs have opened up new possibilities for lighting car interiors, as seen in the new Hyundai Ioniq 6. (credit: Hyundai)
The annual auto show is underway in Los Angeles this week, and Hyundai used the event to make the North American debut of its next electric vehicle, the Ioniq 6. It's a curvaceous sedan, one that looks better in person than on a two-dimensional screen, and when it goes on sale in 2023, it will be yet another example of the lighting revolution that's brightened up automotive interiors, and perhaps brightening a driver's mood.
We've written before about how LEDs have been embraced by designers crafting the exteriors of new cars. Freed from the old confines of inefficient bulbs and large, often round reflectors, today new cars and trucks are decorated by strips and slashes of yellow and red daylight running lights, with headlamps that light brighter and throw further down the road. If a car's headlights are its face—and humans are good at seeing faces in things—then new lighting technology has given our vehicles a new range of expressions.
Vehicle interiors are becoming more expressive, too. LEDs have taken over from incandescents here, bringing color along for the ride. The Ioniq 6, for example, boasts 64 different hues to choose from, backlighting the door cards and the dashboard.
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