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Ford's New Smart Headlights For Tracking Objects At Night
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."
This system is developed by the European Ford division. We are unlikely to see it in States anytime soon because of the ancient DOT headlights regulations that are not ready for the latest innovations. Mercedes Benz developed a similar system a while ago.
Nobody who can actually drive is actually looking at the current turn, so why highlight it?
You should learn to drive before you lecture other people. Never outdrive your headlights. If that means you have to slow down to less than the posted speed limit, so be it. That's how you avoid driving over road obstacles at night, like rocks or animals. Now, in the future, watch where you're going.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
it's okay to out drive your headlights, it's when you drive faster than your angel can fly that you run into troubles.
Did you even watch the video? Or the part of the summary you yourself fucking quoted?
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 no. The driver does not have to take his eyes off the road.
This is extremely useful functionality, because it also highlights cyclists who often do not have adequate lighting and are thus a huge source for (death!)scares for many drivers, at least in the Netherlands.
Please leave Slashdot and take your anti-new technology kneejerk reactions with you. That also goes for everybody who was stupid enough to mod you up.