Millions of Pixels in Our Future Headlights: What Is It For?
This page is translated from the original post "Des millions de pixels dans nos futurs phares, à quoi ça sert ?" in French.
- 16/12/2021 10:00
New lighting technologies offer incredible ranges, devilish precision, and play an active role in facilitating night driving. Beyond the lighting function, the projection becomes intelligent.
1.3 million pixels: this is the incredible definition achieved by the latest generations of headlights integrated into some of the newest German high-end vehicles. Technologies of surgical precision that allow new active functionalities for the light beam. We already know the basic functions of matrix headlights including some LED modules, which have been lowered in range to some popular models. They enable targeted road lighting without dazzling oncoming vehicles. But the latest headlight generations go further — at the speed of light!
For example, on an Audi A8 or Mercedes EQS, there is a micro-mirror matrix technology that refracts and disperses the powerful LED light into tiny pixels, similar to a video projector, offering extreme precision. The resolution obtained for the vehicle is around 2.6 million pixels for both headlights. This not only allows perfect road illumination but also focuses the beam in the highway lane to follow, for example, adding arrows that naturally guide the driver’s attention. A particularly useful feature in construction zones or diverging lanes.
Digital Matrix LED Headlight on an Audi e-tron. © Audi
This headlight technology also allows projecting markings or warning symbols onto the road surface. New assistance functions thus appear, helping to visualize stops or dangerous overtaking zones, for example, in conjunction with panneau reading, mapping, and GPS.
The projection can also help with a specific light flow to naturally refocus on its lane or indicate with an alert sign if overtaking is dangerous when a vehicle is coming from the front or in the blind spot. These systems can also highlight a pedestrian at night with a light brush.
Depending on evolving regulations, this will also enable communication with other road users, for example by projecting a danger signal in front of a pedestrian about to cross outside the crosswalk while a car is approaching. Finally, more anecdotal, these systems allow defining the display one wishes when arriving at a home parking lot, as a way to say goodbye to the car in a high-tech manner.
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