It’s safe to say that Audi’s Sport Quattro Laserlight concept car stole the show at CES 2014 in Las Vegas. The car’s 700-horsepower hybrid powertrain and carbon-fiber bodywork mean that it would travel quickly. Better yet, the laser-powered headlamps that are the crowning glory of the concept car are actually slated for production at some point in the not-distant future.
Audi’s lasers aren’t weaponized but they are set to be the new standard for illumination on the road. The laser lights are nearly three times as bright and beam twice as far as current, top of the range LED high beams and were called “safer, sharper and more efficient” compared with existing technologies. That “safer” part works on two levels: the brighter beams offer far better visibility, naturally, but Audi also tells us that they won’t dazzle oncoming drivers like traditional high beams will. That means you can drive with the maximum illumination at all times.
