Self-leveling headlights are already required on new cars in Europe, and they're required on all U.S. With a self-leveling system, electric servomotors react to the level sensor and keep the headlights aimed down at the road, no matter the position of the car. This is actually the car's headlights temporarily pointing up and into your eyes instead of down at the road. The other car's headlights would flash briefly, as if the driver had blinked his or her high beams at you. You may have noticed this if a car driving behind you at night passed over a bump, such as a railroad crossing. Standard headlights would briefly point up into the sky until the rear of the car moved over the bump and the car returned to a level position. ![]() For example, if a car is driving over a large bump, when the front of the car hits the bump, it lifts up. Self-leveling headlights have an additional level sensor that determines if the car is tilted forward or back. Most adaptive headlights systems also include a self-leveling system. Read on to find out what other advantages adaptive headlights can provide - and what cutting-edge technology the headlights of the future will be using. This helps keep the lights from inadvertently blinding other drivers. If the car isn't moving or is moving in reverse, the adaptive headlights won't activate. The sensors in an adaptive headlights system prevent the lights from turning when they don't need to. When the car speeds up or finishes turning, the lights automatically turn themselves off. When the car is moving slower than 25 mph (40 km/hour) and turning, the cornering lights can illuminate up to 80 degrees of additional area to the side of the car. ![]() In the absence of fog lights, an additional side-directed lamp is installed with the headlights. If the car has fog lights, small reflectors swivel to direct the fog lights off to the side. Some BMW models are equipped with cornering lights. If 15 degrees of sideward movement isn't enough, such as during low-speed turning in a parking lot or for especially sharp curves, additional lighting can supplement the headlights. A typical adaptive headlight can turn the lights up to 15 degrees from center, giving them a 30-degree range of movement. The sensors direct small electric motors built into the headlight casing to turn the headlights. Yaw is the rotation of the car around the vertical axis - when a car is spinning, for example, its yaw is changing. Since adaptive headlights are directed at the road, the incidence of glare is reduced.Ī car with adaptive headlights uses electronic sensors to detect the speed of the car, how far the driver has turned the steering wheel, and the yaw of the car. ![]() The glare of oncoming headlights can cause serious visibility problems. This is important not only for the driver of the car with adaptive headlights, but for other drivers on the road as well. Turn the car left, the headlights angle to the left. When the car turns right, the headlights angle to the right. Adaptive headlights react to the steering, speed and elevation of the car and automatically adjust to illuminate the road ahead. When going around curves, they illuminate the side of the road more than the road itself. Standard headlights shine straight ahead, no matter what direction the car is moving. We'll also look at some headlight innovations in the works. In this article, we'll look at how adaptive headlights differ from standard headlights and find out how they can make nighttime driving safer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |