Ford Patent Filed For Dimmable External Vehicle Lighting

Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for dimmable external vehicle lighting, Ford Authority has learned.

The patent was filed on June 23^rd, 2020, published on January 31^st, 2023, and assigned serial number 11565624.

The Ford Authority Take

New types of external lighting have been the subject of a pair of Ford patent filings in recent months – one outlining an idea for a detachable lighting assembly for vehicles, and another a configurable puddle lamp control system. Now, this newly filed Ford patent continues that trend by outlining a concept for dimmable external lighting that could play an important role in future vehicles for a number of reasons.

For starters, automotive lighting has come a long way in terms of how much energy it uses, mostly thanks to the prevalence of LED lighting in recent years. However, reducing this even further makes a lot of sense, particularly as all-electric vehicles begin to become more common on the roads. And, as Ford notes in the patent, brighter lights are somewhat of a waste in big cities, where lighting may already be adequate – even at night.

As such, this patent presents an idea for exterior lighting that’s capable of dimming itself when appropriate, which the system could do automatically. For example, if the vehicle detects that the sun is up or if there’s sufficient environmental light intensity, it could automatically dim the daytime running lights or regular headlights by an appropriate amount without affecting visibility.

This idea makes quite a bit of sense given the fact that currently, exterior lighting is likely wasting quite a bit of energy unnecessarily – at least in certain situations. By implementing a system like this, future vehicles could be much more efficient in that regard.

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