Intelligent Automobile Headlights: Recent Developments and Future Trends

The vehicle headlight is the most important lighting system for drivers when driving in poor lighting conditions including dusk and nighttime. However, some drivers abuse the high beam in some driving scenarios such as meeting and overtaking, which causes other road users to be dazzled and increases the probability of traffic accidents. To address the above problems, automotive lighting technology has made significant progress to improve driving safety in poor lighting conditions. Especially, the intelligent headlight improves the safety and comfort of night driving due to the rapid development of connected and autonomous vehicles technology. Firstly, the significant impact of automobile headlights on drivers, car products and traffic safety is illustrated in four aspects: safety, standardization, intelligent trend and fashion. Moreover, the development process of vehicle headlights is also reviewed from incandescent lamps, halogen headlights, xenon headlights, LED matrix headlights, and laser headlights to adaptive front-lighting system(AFS), adaptive driving beam(ADB) and digital light processing(DLP). Subsequently, based on current academic research directions and industrial applications, we analyze the principles, technical characteristics, methods and applications of the intelligent headlight technologies according to three types of technical solutions, including AFS, ADB and DLP. Based on the analysis, the differences between each type of solution are further discussed. Furthermore, the perception and automation techniques utilized in intelligent headlights, such as night-time driving database technology, 2D/3D object detection and tracking and lighting control method, are surveyed. Finally, the development trends for intelligent vehicle headlights are prospected. © 2023 Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society. All rights reserved.