Say goodbye to the spark plug! The venerable 19th century technology that has been a staple of the automotive industry for ions is about to be replaced. Engineers at the Ford Motor Company have a developed a new laser based spark plug ignition system for the internal combustion engine that completely does away with the traditional spark plug and replaces it, with a highly efficient pinpoint accurate laser to combust the fuel air mixture.

The laser beam is delivered via a thin fiber optic cable that splits the beam and then shoots it, from multiple points deep into the cylinder head, making for a far more efficient burn in comparison to the traditional spark plug. The more complete burn increases the engines fuel efficiency and lowers overall emissions. The laser based system also allows engine designers a greater degree of latitude when designing new cylinders and heads due to their compact footprint, and can also be reflected onto a receiver and and used to gather real time telemetry about the fuel mixture and quality of burn. Ford hopes to have the system production ready in the next few years.