World's first smart car

headlights that can see

through the heaviest

rain or snow

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created
a smart
car headlight that enables drivers to see through even the heaviest
rain or snow. The new device is small enough that it can be
fitted to a
standard vehicle, a Ford F-150 pick-up truck, for the first time
(pictured)

Scientists have been working on the smart car headlights since
2012
Early prototypes were so large they were impractical for use in the
real world
A new prototype fits inside the normal headlights of a Ford F-150
pick-up truck
A 98 per cent improvement in visibility can be achieved with
the latest device

Driving through torrential rain or a heavy blizzard at night can produce

some of the most dangerous conditions faced by motorists on the roads.

But new technology developed by scientists promises to make driving

through storms after dark a little bit safer.

They have created a smart car headlight that enables drivers to see

through even the heaviest rain or snow, which would normally

reduce traffic to a crawl.

Now the researchers have unveiled a new prototype that fits

inside the normal headlights of a Ford F-150 pick-up truck.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have created a smart

car headlight that enables drivers to see through even the

heaviest rain or snow. The new device is small enough that

it can be fitted to a standard vehicle, a Ford F-150 pick-up truck,

for the first time (pictured)

The programmable headlights work by replacing the traditional bulb and LEDs in headlights with a device called a digital micromirror chip. These feature thousands of tiny mirrors that can be individually controlled by flipping them up and down at high speed

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have been working on the smart headlights since 2012.

They work by turning off tiny portions of the beam that correspond to the falling water, meaning it does not reflect off the droplets and reduce visibility.

Normally drivers often have to drive with dimmed beams in heavy rain or snow so they can see, but the new headlights allow them to use high beam to illuminate the road ahead.

Early prototypes of the headlights were so large they needed to be mounted on a special transparent box on top of the car's bonnet, making them impractical for use in the real world.

But the new device is small enough that it could be fitted to a standard vehicle for the first time.

The scientists say they have been able to achieve a 98 per cent improvement in visibility with their latest proof of concept.

They have also been able to use their 'programmable headlights' to detect oncoming traffic and so dim a portion of the light to avoid dazzling oncoming drivers.

Professor Takeo Kanade, a computer scientist at the university who helped lead the team behind the technology, said: 'When it is raining at night, it can be difficult to see because your headlights reflect off the rain drops.

'These drops of water act like a lens and to our eyes these become white streaks.

'But rain does not fall very fast - only about 10 metres per second (22 mph), so we can track them with a camera and turn off the corresponding ray of light.'

Bad weather is one of the leading causes of accidents on Britain's roads, with the rate of accidents increasing by up to 82 per cent when it is raining.

Developers say the smart headlights (pictured) that can make rain almost invisible could save lives on the roads. The scientists say they have been able to achieve a 98 per cent improvement in visibility with their latest proof of concept.

Professor Kanade and his colleagues believe their technology could help to make driving at night safer.

The programmable headlights work by replacing the traditional bulb and LEDs in headlights with a device similar to that found in cinema projectors, called a digital micromirror chip.

These feature thousands of tiny mirrors that can be individually controlled by flipping them up and down at high speed.

The programmable headlights have been in development at Carnegie Mellon University since 2012. Pictured - Components of a previous version of the system, which include a camera, digital light projector and beamsplitter

By shining a bright light onto one of these chips, it becomes possible to dim small sections of a headlight on demand.

A camera mounted in the headlight also allows an on-board computer to spot raindrops as they fall into the driver's field of vision and predict their path.

This means the path section of headlight that would normally be reflected by the raindrop or snowflake as it falls can be briefly turned off.

The result is that the remaining light shines through the raindrops onto the road ahead.

Tests of the prototype have shown it can dramatically improve the visibility of the road in heavy rain.

Ford has already been leading the way in developing innovative headlight technology, with an adaptive headlight system that adjusts the beam angle around corners.

The system also alters the beam angle to help prevent glare from wet roads.

Most recently Ford announced its new Glare-Free high beam technology, which automatically dims a car shaped wedge of light if it detects an oncoming vehicle.

Professor Kanade said his team's programmable headlight is able to avoid dazzle without cutting out a large portion of the headlights because it can control individual rays of light.

Early prototypes of the headlights (pictured) were so large they needed to be mounted on a special transparent box on top of the car's bonnet, making them impractical for use in the real world

Ford has already been leading the way in developing innovative headlight technology, with an adaptive headlight system that adjusts the beam angle around corners (illustration pictured). The system also alters the beam angle to help prevent glare from wet roads

This is because most modern cutting edge headlights in cars today use a matrix of LEDs that are made up from up to 100 individual beams.

With a headlight made up of several 1000 individual beams that can turn on and off at more than 1000 every second, it is possible to control where the light falls far more accurately.

He said: 'When our system detects an oncoming car, it can turn off the beam that would hit the eye of the driver of the oncoming car.

'That means they won't see your headlights as high-beam at all.'

(The Mail, UK)