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Ford's New Smart Headlights For Tracking Objects At Night

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-the-better-to-see-you-with dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Headlights have been around since the 1880's, and while the source of their light has changed over the years, their functionality has remained virtually the same, until now. Ford has unveiled a new advanced illumination system that should make driving your car at night a lot safer. The new headlight system uses a standard and infrared camera to detect objects near the road. The new technology can locate and track up to eight people or animals up to 12 meters. Ford reports: "Building upon Adaptive Front Lighting System and Traffic Sign Recognition, the system interprets traffic signs to better illuminate hazards that are not in the direction of travel, and uses GPS information for enhanced lighting when encountering bends and dips on a chosen route. Where GPS information is not available, a video camera detects lane markings and predicts the road’s curvature. When next the driver uses the same road again, the headlights adapt to the course of the road automatically. We expect this technology to be available for customers in the near term."

2 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. It's even worse than I thought! by Psychotria · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The system spotlights hazards for the driver with a spot and a stripe on the road surface and highlighted objects are displayed on the screen inside the car

    So... the driver has to take their eyes off the road (where they should be looking) to look at the screen inside the car?

    “Many people who drive at night have had to quickly react to someone or something suddenly appearing in the road – as if from nowhere. 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,” said Ken Washington, vice president, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.

    Yes, and you won't be able to do that when you're losing 500ms to 15 seconds of potential response time by looking at the screen in the car.

  2. Wait... It remembers? by webdog314 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "When next the driver uses the same road again, the headlights adapt to the course of the road automatically."

    Which means that it remembers everywhere we have driven. I don't think I like the sound of that.