Smart high-beam headlights won't blind oncoming...
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Connect with us by Amanda Kooser @akooser / September 9, 2014 12:12 PM PDT Smart high-beam headlights won't blind oncoming drivers Researchers at Carnegie Mellon created an experimental headlight that tracks other vehicles and blanks out the bits of light that would normally blind them in traffic. CNET › Car Tech › Smart high-beam headlights won't blind oncoming drivers The smart-headlight prototype got a road test on this truck. Carnegie Mellon High-beams are the bane of nighttime driving. You're just toodling along, minding your own business, when you round a corner and get an eyeful of bright light. This can turn a normal driving situation into a dangerous one in a split second, even if the other driver is thoughtful enough to turn the lights down. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon are developing a smart headlight system that takes slow human reaction times out of the equation. The Carnegie Mellon team cannibalized and repurposed a DLP projector for the project. This allows for minute control over the light coming out. The researchers were able to divide the light into a million minuscule beams, and then dim or brighten the tiny sections as needed. The result is a programmable headlight system that uses a camera to track other THIS WEEK'S MUST 1 Smart won't b Car Tec 2 It's not proble Tech In 3 Wome don't a Tech In 4 No eas discrim Tech Cu 5 Oculus Rift vir 2016 Gaming 3 / 14 / 179 / / 18 / more + Search CNET Reviews News Video How To Games US Edition
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5/7/2015 Smart high-beam headlights won't blind oncoming drivers - CNET
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Connect with us
by Amanda Kooser @akooser / September 9, 2014 12:12 PM PDT
Smart high-beam headlights won'tblind oncoming driversResearchers at Carnegie Mellon created an experimental headlight that tracks other vehicles andblanks out the bits of light that would normally blind them in traffic.
CNET › Car Tech › Smart high-beam headlights won't blind oncoming drivers
The smart-headlight prototype got a road test on this truck.
Carnegie Mellon
High-beams are the bane of nighttime driving. You're just toodling along, mindingyour own business, when you round a corner and get an eyeful of bright light. Thiscan turn a normal driving situation into a dangerous one in a split second, even ifthe other driver is thoughtful enough to turn the lights down. Researchers atCarnegie Mellon are developing a smart headlight system that takes slow humanreaction times out of the equation.
The Carnegie Mellon team cannibalized and repurposed a DLP projector for theproject. This allows for minute control over the light coming out. The researcherswere able to divide the light into a million minuscule beams, and then dim orbrighten the tiny sections as needed.
The result is a programmable headlight system that uses a camera to track other
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drivers on the road and then blacks out the specific parts of the headlight beamthat would normally shine into their eyes. A driver with this sort of headlight doesn'thave to keep one hand on the high-beam switch to turn it off for traffic; theheadlight system handles all the hard work.
The system is also designed to work during snowor rain. It uses the same tracking principle andblocks out the light that would normally reflect offsnowflakes or raindrops right in front of theheadlights. This makes for less glare for the driverduring bad weather conditions. The researchersare still working on improving the accuracy of thispart of the system at high speeds, though it workswell at low speeds.
A test version of the system was mounted to thefront of a truck and tested on the streets of Pittsburgh. The driver of the car with thesmart headlights will notice almost no change in the illumination in front of thevehicle. There is only a 3 to 5 percent reduction in light when the headlights adjust.
"Even after 130 years of headlight development, more than half of vehicle crashesand deaths occur at night, despite the fact there is much less traffic then. With ourprogrammable system, however, we can actually make headlights that are evenbrighter than today's without causing distractions for other drivers on the road,"says Srinivasa Narasimhan, associate professor of robotics.
The next step is for the researchers to modify the system to fit into the headlightcompartment on a truck, so it can be tested in the same place regular headlightsgo. Someday, cursing at drivers with slow high-beam reactions could become athing of the past, making for safer roads for everyone.
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HamLoring
This probably an urban legend but it smacks of truthiness--
Back in the mid-fifties, Cadillac offered an optional automatic headlight dimmer. Amodule shaped like half a very small football, it sat on a short stalk on the dash, with thebig end facing out through the windshield.
Simple in operation, when the Caddy's high beams were on, this thing would senseoncoming headlights and automatically dim the Caddy's headlights. As soon as theoncoming car swept past, the gadget would switch on the Caddy's high beams.
Story goes that running along old US 30 in the Nebraska panhandle, a nameless Caddydriver pulled up on the rear of an 18-wheeler. There being precious few places to pass,our intrepid high-technology guy motored along behind the truck, his smart carobediently dimming then brightening the headlights with each oncoming vehicle.
After several tens of miles of this, the truck slowed to a crawl then abruptly turned leftand stopped, blocking the road. The trucker leapt out of his cab and swinging a largeball-pien hammer, proceeded to destroy the Caddy's headlights, all four of them. Thetrucker climbed back in his rig and drove away, leaving the Caddy driver to contemplatethe wonderfulness of cutting edge automotive technology in pitch darkness.
REPLY / (1) LIKE
Mike033199
I already have a version of this feature on my 2014 ford fusion. Not sure how well itworks as I turned it off as soon as it was available, but do know that the auto-high beamis already a reality.
REPLY / LIKE
Sep 9, 2014theunclesam
@Mike033199 Why would you disable something you paid for without testing tosee how well it works?
Also, this isn't the same thing. This will selectively block light around theoncoming object. Not just switch high/low beams.
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