Headlights look around corners

June 20, 2002
Driving curvy country roads in the dark can be a hair-raising experience.
To remove some of the stress, Valeo builds a system that angles light beams from a vehicle's headlights so that they illuminate upcoming turns. It physically turns the headlight's integral reflectors up to 20° from the normal, straight-ahead alignment. The controller takes inputs from the steering wheel and wheel speed sensors, and, optionally, GPS-based navigation systems. A control algorithm uses them to point the light beams where it has calculated the driver wants the car to go. The systems is said to reduce the stress and fatigue associated with nighttime driving.

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