Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the world's first light bulb in 1879-six years before KarlBenz invented the world's first practical automobile (the term"practical" meaning that it was truly a viable alternative to a horse).While the technology behind the light bulb and the automobile is very different, these two significant inventions would drive each other's development over the next century.

The first light bulbs were very fragile-completely useless in early automobiles that bounced harshly over unimproved roads. In fact, the first cars used lamps burning acetylene or oil as they were resistant to vibration, wind and rain. Advancements in bulb design, such as flexible filaments (a metal spring in which electricity is passed through) and dynamos (the predecessor to today's alternator), made the electric headlamp much more commonplace just after the turn of the century.

Over the next fifty years, the so-called incandescent bulbs (in this design electricity is passed through a thin tungsten metal filament)became the standard of automotive lighting. They were used for headlamps, and miniaturized for brake lights, turn signals and side markers. Incandescent bulbs were used to light the cabin, and project illumination on the instrument panel. Things started to change in the early 1960s with the invention of the halogen bulb. While the halogen bulb operates in the same manner as its tungsten predecessor (an electrically-charged white-hot filament produces light), the gas inside the bulb is halogen. The halogen gas allows the filament to burn hotter(putting out more light) with a service life that is more than double that of a tungsten bulb. In addition, the projected light is much whiter in color-making them excellent headlight replacements.

By the late 1980s, nearly every vehicle on the road was utilizing halogen technology for its headlight bulbs. For the most part, all other vehicle illumination including cabin lights, brake lights, turn signals and side markers were still using traditional, tungsten-based incandescent lighting. (It is interesting to note that Chryslerexperimented with electroluminescent lighting-a special material emits light when electricity is passed through it-in the 1960s.)