Ford introduced two new lighting technologies Friday that are designed to help drivers more easily recognize potential road hazards, especially when visibility is more impaired while driving at nighttime.
Ford's new Spot Lighting system uses an infra-red camera in the front grille of the car to spot and track up to eight people and larger animals up to 120 meters, or roughly 394 feet, away. When the system, which is currently in the pre-development phase, detects something near the front of your car, based on body heat, two LED lamps near the fog lights move independently to cast a beam of light in their direction. The objects are also displayed on the screen in your vehicle and are highlighted in either a yellow or red frame according to the hazard level.
The automobile giant also introduced its Camera-Based Advanced Front Lighting System prototype, which uses a GPS and a front-facing video camera in the rear-view mirror to interpret road signs and lane markings at junctions and roundabouts so that the headlights can adjust their beams accordingly, shining light in the way you need to turn or in the direction of oncoming traffic, for example. The GPS will also record and save the information so that when the driver travels on that road again, the headlights will automatically adjust to its previous settings.
Watch Ford's new lighting system at work in the video below.
[H/T Slash Gear]
