Adaptive Headlamps in Automobile: A Review on the Models, Detection Techniques, and Mathematical Models

Abstract

Driving at night with traditional headlamps poses significant threats, with many accidents occurring during the night because of temporary blindness caused by the headlights of the oncoming traffic. When in high beam, the headlights cause temporary visual impairment of human eyes called the Troxler effect. While it reduces the time to react, it also leads to decreased visibility which contributes to most mishaps that occur at night. Customarily the headlight adjustments are controlled manually where poor driving skills or error in judgment can have catastrophic effects. Accidents also occur due to poor lighting conditions as the current regular headlamp configurations do not illuminate the roads precisely, especially during curves and on unpredictable terrains. Hence, there is a need for adaptive headlamps in automobiles that can prevent Troxler’s effect on the drivers of the opposite vehicles while not compromising the road’s illumination for the driver on-board. This paper reviews research papers and patents to understand various methodologies used in implementing adaptive headlamps and explore the scope for future work in this area of research. This paper also reviews vehicle detection algorithms and various vehicle mathematical models for headlamp control based on steering angles.

Keywords

• Adaptive frontlight systems (AFS)
• adaptive headlamps
• geometric path tracking
• headlight sight distance
• HOG
• kinematics model