Continental Intelligent Headlamp Control System

Illumination and making sure you see where you are going especially in the dark is important for car travelers. And to ensure you get the proper illumination, check out this Intelligent Headlamp Control system developed by Continental. At the moment, it is being installed in a series production model for the first time.

The system, controlled by a digital camera and a microprocessor, continuously adjusts the illumination range of the vehicle headlamps to the traffic situation, thus ensuring that a significantly greater area of the road ahead of the vehicle is illuminated, without dazzling oncoming traffic or the vehicles in front. The new Intelligent Headlamp Control system is being launched on the market in a German premium model.

Unlike the first generation Intelligent Headlamp Control and unlike the conventional main beam, which, apart from dipped beam, is the only other headlamp setting available, this second generation is continuously variable; as a result, it does away with that brief disconcerting feeling of driving into a “black hole” when the main beam is switched off and before the eyes have become accustomed to the shorter light cone and the area of darkness in front of the vehicle.

The camera can detect an oncoming vehicle in the opposite lane or another vehicle in front and continuously adjusts the illumination range to the traffic situation. In the majority of circumstances, this will provide drivers with more light than when using dipped beam. The lower limit of the headlamp illumination range is the same as that of the conventional dipped beam.

Intelligent light assistants are growing in importance, especially for the new LED main headlamps, since these offer greater freedom for adjusting the driving light beyond that provided by the continuously variable headlamp leveling control. Continental develops and supplies the required LED control electronics for this application.

(Source) Press