Ford Develops Smart Headlight Lighting System Capable of Detecting Pedestrians

　　Smart cars are not only reflected in more feature-rich in-car systems—how to make cars safer for drivers and pedestrians is also a hot topic in smart car development. Recently, the renowned car manufacturer Ford launched an intelligent lighting system called Spot Lighting, which can help drivers better avoid pedestrians and other obstacles when driving at night.

　　Anyone who has experience driving at night knows that when a vehicle is going straight, the headlights can only illuminate the road far ahead, while the front sides of the vehicle remain in complete darkness. Pedestrians, however, sometimes appear in this area, and by the time the driver notices them, it may already be too late. To avoid this safety hazard, Ford has added an infrared imager to the Spot Lighting system, which can detect heat sources to determine the position of pedestrians and assess the danger. The fog lights below the headlights will then turn on, allowing the driver to see potential hazards.

　　What's more, thanks to Ford's adaptive lighting technology and traffic sign recognition technology, Spot Lighting can also use cameras installed on the rearview mirror together with GPS to automatically determine road conditions, and accordingly adjust lighting parameters such as beam width—for example, increasing the lighting range when turning or passing through an intersection. At the same time, these parameters will be recorded so that when the vehicle passes through the same location again, they can be automatically recalled. It is somewhat regrettable that Ford says the intelligent lighting system is still in the prototype testing stage, so it is unlikely to appear in the next generation of Ford models. Interested friends may want to take a look at the promotional video first!