Being dazzled by car high beams is no joke. Having someone come around the corner and forget to dip their headlamps isn't just annoying, it’s potentially dangerous. To be featured at next week's Geneva Motor Show, Volvo’s Active High Beam Control is a mechanical system installed in the headlamps that actively and selectively shields oncoming or cars being followed from the lights. This allows Volvo drivers to keep their high beams on continually without fear of dazzling others or being unable to see a suddenly darkened road.
With Volvo's Active High Beam Control, the car’s lights still illuminate the road everywhere except cars approaching from the opposite direction or cars being approached from behind. This means that you can still see the sides of the road and the other driver can confidently stay in control of their car.
It does this by means of the camera already installed in the Volvo’s rear-view mirror for the car’s detection and auto braking system. The camera detects the other car and calculates the area to be shaded within a 1.5-degree margin. The Active Beam Control system then activates a tiny cylinder with different sized metal pieces that shade the selected area to the proper degree.
"Our aim with the renewed Active High Beam Control technology is to enhance visibility in the dark by making it possible to use high beam permanently, without having to switch to low beam when meeting or catching up with other cars," said Prof. Lotta Jakobsson, Senior Technical Specialist Safety at Volvo Cars Safety Centre.
According to Volvo, the system also works with motorcycles and at speeds down to 9 mph (15 km/h). The company will have the system on display at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show next week and it will be available in the Volvo S60, V60 and XC60 models from the Northern Hemisphere spring of this year.
Source: Volvo
Indeed, you even do not need the lamps yet. Just start changing windows.
Unfortunately nobody thinks in terms of half centuries, even 10 years seems too long for them. No direct profit I guess.
@Dargand: Any idea how well this works in cities or in the rain? It seems like something that would mostly be useful in the country, with very few drivers on the road, in good weather, not like something that would be good in heavy traffic or heavy rain.
I'm a little surprised that this system is mechanical though - an LCD screen in front of the lights would seem more effective, though maybe again the problems of polarizing the light prevent that from being as good as it sounds. It's also funny that this picture shows the car being blotted out as if the cone of darkness starts at the car and not the headlights.
I used to own a new 1987 Thunderbird that had about the best- designed automatic dimmers in the business and it was probably still annoying to people coming towards me, following behind the car that just past my sensor's threshold. Click on, click off, click on, etc. And that was electronic. Anything mechanical will like that will suck, eventually. Hey, how about all those ultra clean headlight and rear window wipers, too.
The only mechanical thing on a car that worked was the preheat louver system on my friend's Saab radiator. Why? Because he controlled it, I reckon.
Courtesy is paramount when sharing the road, and I gladly flash my high beams on any annoying adjustment coming at me, whether it's up to factory settings or not. The mechanic or driver doesn't have to bear the brunt of blinding light in his eyes to remove his night vision even temporarily to keep from running down a pedestrian or hitting a car.
For example,how about all the "dummies" out there running on so-called driving lights with heavier than normal loads in the p.u. bed or back seat of their car. Doesn't do us oncoming drivers any good when you get those low lights shining up above your hood into your eyes.
I think it's a bad idea taking control of lights from the owner/operators control.
Rich
P.