Ford is the latest auto manufacturer looking to make nighttime driving safer for people behind the wheel – not to mention other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and animals – through the use of new smart headlight technology designed to help prevent accidents.
According to Wired, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automotive giant’s new Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System and Spot Lighting systems can widen car headlights when a car goes around a corner and uses an array of sensors to learn more about its surroundings.
The technology combines GPS data, front-facing infrared cameras, and swiveling headlights to better illuminate the road and help motorists spot potential hazards. In addition, the systems use infrared cameras to detect the body heat of people and large animals on the road ahead.
These improved high beams can shine on as many as eight pedestrians, cyclists or creatures, said Engadget, and the technology is also able to highlight them on the vehicle’s in-car entertainment system by making them appear in yellow boxes. While the Spot Lighting technology is not ready the camera-based Front Lighting System will be added to cars in the near future.
Technology to hit Europe and Asia (but probably not the US)
Once it is available, the Smart Lighting system will reportedly be able to spot larger things at a range of up to 120 meters (slightly under 400 feet), but it will not be able to see smaller animals. Unfortunately for American motorists, however, Autoblog reports that these systems are unlikely to make it to the States and are being designed for the European and Asian markets.
“Many people who drive at night have had to quickly react to someone or something suddenly appearing in the road – as if from nowhere,” Ken Washington, VP of Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford, explained in a statement. “Ford’s Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System and Spot Lighting help ensure the driver is quickly alerted to people or animals that could present a danger.”
“Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting can help make it easier for the driver to travel at night in unfamiliar surroundings, and to more easily see unexpected hazards,” added Michael Koherr, research engineer, Lighting Systems, Ford of Europe. “At roundabouts, for example, our system helps the driver to clearly see the exits – and check if cyclists and pedestrians are crossing the road. Spot Lighting makes potential hazards in the road ahead more easily visible to the driver – whether that is a pedestrian, a cyclist, or even a large animal.”
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Image Credit: Ford
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