Standby UK Launches ‘Sync & Breathe’

A Smart Lighting Breakthrough for Emergency Service vehicles

Advanced Vehicle Lighting and Control System market leader Standby UK has recently unveiled an innovative approach to emergency vehicle lighting designed to improve blue light response road safety. Sync and Breathe, powered by the next-generation MCS-NX Power Management and Control Unit, aims to reduce driver distraction of other road users while enhancing responder wellbeing at the scene of an incident.

Reimagining Emergency Lighting for Today’s Roads

Traditionally, emergency vehicles rely on high-intensity blue warning lights to signal urgency and to attract the attention of other road users. However, when multiple emergency vehicles are responding to or are at the scene of an incident, unsynchronised blue flashing lights can create a visually chaotic scene that could distract some motorists. Sync & Breathe creates an option to bring blue light visual order through the use of intelligent blue light response patterns.

• Sync mode uses GPS to synchronise flash patterns across enabled vehicles, regardless of service or geographical location. Coordinated blue lights can reduce misinterpretation and improve road safety.
• Breathe, in contrast, provides a smoother less jarring flash pattern at the scene, reducing glare, visual fatigue, and stress for emergency crews and road users alike.

Why It Matters: Distracted Driving and Emergency Lights

Department for Transport figures suggest that driver distractions or impairment contributed to over 12,000 road traffic collisions in 2022*. With other driver distractions both inside and outside of the vehicle, it is even more critical that emergency vehicle warning signals are clear, unambiguous, and not contributing further to cognitive overload. Standby UK’s intelligent lighting sequencing aims to help create more predictable visual environments, particularly where multiple emergency response vehicles converge and where traditional flashing patterns might otherwise add to driver confusion.

Sync & Breathe in Action

Watch the official Sync & Breathe video, illustrating how this technology works in real world conditions.

The Standby short film showcases Standby UK’s synchronised lighting technology in a real-world operational use, featuring a range of vehicle conversions equipped with Standby UK systems. The project was delivered in collaboration with specialist vehicle converter Halls Electrical, which converted the batch of Audi Q7 vehicles featured in the film.

Industry Response and Future Outlook

Emergency Services and vehicle conversion partners alike have welcomed Sync & Breathe as a promising step toward safer, more human-centred lighting systems. As emergency responding becomes more complex, particularly during high-traffic periods or multi-vehicle incidents, innovations that reduce visual overload and clarify warning signals are expected to play an increasing role in broader road safety strategies.

Sync & Breathe is one of the many high-technology features that are included as standard in the next generation range of MCS-NX systems.

*DfT (2023) ‘Table RAS0701: Collisions, casualties and road user types: Great Britain, 2022’