IPFS News Link • Inventions
Smart Headlights See through Rain and Snow
• http://www.technologyreview.com, Conor MyhrvoldThe system uses a digital projector to illuminate raindrops for several milliseconds while a camera mounted on the side of the projector captures each raindrop's location; software predicts where those raindrops will fall within the driver's field of view. Light rays from the headlight that would normally hit the raindrop are automatically switched off, reducing glare and leaving only the beams of light which travel uninterrupted in between the falling drops.
The system's operating range is three to four meters in front of the projector—the "critical range" at which glare is most distracting, according to tests conducted using a Toyota Prius.