Car headlights to disappear, says Genesis

Dusk-sensing, matrix-zapping, laser-beaming headlight technologies have cost German car-makers hundreds of millions of dollars to develop, but they will all go into the bin soon according to one of the automotive industry's most respected car designers.

Former Lamborghini, Audi and Bentley design boss, Luc Donckerwolke, told a group of Aussie journalists during the New York motor show that the humble headlight will eventually become extinct.

The Belgian chief of design for Genesis – Hyundai's disruptive luxury brand – said cars will one day drive completely in the dark at night time because their autonomous capability will remove the need for illuminating the road ahead.

His latest design, the just-revealed Genesis GV80 Concept, was one of the stars of the 2017 New York motor show and he said the minimal "quad light" frontal design is not a coincidence.

"All Genesis [vehicles] will have those quad lights eventually, but as you see we are reducing the size because we are anticipating the fact that slowly cars won't need lights any more," he said.

The forward-thinking designer said headlights will undergo a massive change, just as will driver habits.

"They will evolve. Lights are actually technological elements which have function. That function will certainly disappear in the future because when you have an autonomous car you don't need light anymore."

"You will have scanners, lasers and you will have radars, but you won't need lights any more apart from let's say the decorative lights to show identity," said Donckerwolke.

Genesis has confirmed the GV80 will be on sale by 2019 as the company's first SUV and will be based on the same platform as the G80.

It will be followed a year later by the GV70 SUV. Three sedans (G70, G80, G90) will be joined by a large coupe or grand tourer GT car before decade's end.

Donckerwolke said that Genesis customers can expect his company's first SUV to be very similar to the concept on display, including the GV80's symbolic 'quad light' design.

"We don’t do show business, we don’t do entertainment," he said of the four-door vehicle, whose side mirrors have been replaced by video cameras. "We don’t want to fool people and show something then build something else.

"The same people that design this concept car have designed the production car -- it's the same people. The process is we are showing what is coming."