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Cadillac choreographs light show for approaching its 2013 XTS

Cadillac has already been releasing a steady drip of information about what’s going into its 2013 XTS like its autonomous-vehicle tech, and now it’s focusing on lighting choreography. Cadillac reminds us that its lighting signature is vertical bands of illumination, tying it back to 1948, when the tailfins for which the brand is still known were first used on cars like the Fleetwood Sixty Special and Series 61 Coupe.

The illumination system goes by the intriguing names of either “Lead Me to the Vehicle” or the Phil-Collins-esque “Take Me Home” and is charged with adding drama and security. Twenty light sources are used in total, starting outside with the LEDS in the headlights, mirror housings, door handles and around the perimeter. Inside, LEDs are used everywhere from overhead to controls to door handles to the footwells, and they are timed in their illumination and dimming, “similar to a production crew lighting a theater stage.”