Shedding New Light On Night Hazards
I have said this before, but vehicles on the road do seem to be the subject of the more innovative IT deployments of this decade.
The latest is a move by Ford to introduce extra headlights which anticipate the action.
Ford Europe is another manufacturer running a project to use infra-red camera technology in the drive to shed light on hazards at night, literally.
However, the approach of their engineers is to deploy an extra pair of headlights on the car that swivel under computer control and work independently of the main beams.
In this way approaching dangers can be highlighted before they come in the scope of the main beams.
As with other car manufacturers’ solutions, a front facing infrared camera scans ahead for the unexpected, like pedestrians walking or animals crossing in a dark country road.
On spotting something, the extra beams swivel to light them up.
When no specific hazards are about on a dark and winding lane, the camera looks ahead for curves and turns the lights to illuminate around the approaching bend.
The solution is being developed to make it even more effective through integration with GPS.
Because mapping software already knows where the bends, junctions, level crossings and other fixed hazards are, GPS tracking allows these pirouetting beams to light up any approaching risk area.
Information released from Ford sheds light on how the system will avoid blinding other drivers, but one must presume its infra-red cameras can spot other cares and turn the lights away?
A short video of this system in action can be found online by searching YouTube for “Ford GPS Headlights.”
