Aerodynamics is no longer an area of car design exclusively considered the reserve of race cars and supercars. In the era of advanced efficiency, even the most commonplace budget car is designed to be as efficient at slicing through the air as possible, so it should come as no surprise that Hyundai’s tech division, Hyundai Mobis, has found a way to combine something as ordinary as a taillight with the art of bending air. In a new patent filed with the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Hyundai Mobis has detailed a new “variable spoiler lighting apparatus” for a vehicle that aims to solve several problems facing current adaptive spoilers and how they interact with lighting technology.
Hyundai’s Vision For An Adaptive Aerodynamic Future
Effectively, Hyundai’s design combines an adaptive spoiler capable of tilting up and down and extending rearwards in a long-tail style with embedded LED lighting technology. In doing so, the spoiler can extend the length of the bodywork for the sake of airflow without impeding the view of the taillights, which in this case move with it. However, this isn’t just applicable to a single spoiler atop the trunk of the car, and Hyundai believes any of the lighting elements can be turned into active spoilers, allowing a completely adaptable longtail body.
A full-width lighting element, for example, can have an inverted U-shape design with this entire element able to protrude for greater aerodynamic efficiency. Likewise, a lower diffuser-like element can also extend, while housing a fog light.
Lighting That Doubles As Communication
The primary benefits here are increased performance but also greater range that would benefit an electric vehicle. This is caused by minimizing air disruption at the rear of the car to reduce drag. The tilting element of this rear spoiler can also be used to improve performance by tilting to other predetermined angles of attack according to various driving modes.
Hyundai references a GT1 and GT2 mode, for example, the latter with a spoiler angle of 40-45 degrees. A Wet mode would deploy the spoiler at an angle of 80-90 degrees, generating additional downforce to counter a slippery road surface.
However, there are secondary benefits, as Hyundai proposes the lighting elements on the protruding spoiler would be capable of communicating with other road users and pedestrians. Just how this might occur hasn’t been detailed, but one can easily envision different color lighting to depict whether a vehicle is in autonomous drive mode, for example, or various patterns and warning symbols may be displayed to indicate when a road surface is wet, utilizing the underside of the spoiler to do so.
This morphable bodywork combines design and function beautifully, and we foresee a world in which such technology reaches fruition in both performance and mainstream models, whether that’s the Hyundai Ioniq 6 or its hot performance N derivative.
