Their latest creation is an intelligent headlight system called "smart" lights, and the main feature is that it can tell when vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists are about to be lit by a full beam and lower the angle of the beam in order to avoid dazzling them.
The idea is simple: a camera and a sensor scan the area in front of the vehicle for a distance up to 800 meters and, when an obstacle is detected, the lamp and reflector swivel downwards, changing the angle of the light beam without reducing the intensity of the light.
Other uses for the new technology could include the improvement of night-time visibility on hilly roads. In this case the sensor will permanently detect where the tarmac is and keep the beam aimed at the ground, instead of moving at the same time with the nose of the car.
Another new technology currently tested by Hella engineers is the use of LED clusters for the headlamps, which would allow the pattern of the beam to be adjusted automatically to highlight obstacles, that way illuminating both tarmac and obstacles with just one lamp unit.
Hella plans to launch the first camera controlled headlight system by 2009.
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