Vehicle Front-Lighting Assistance System to Improve Comfort and Safety of the Driver

The investigations of the European Road Safety Action Programme 2003-2010 show that the high number of car crashes can be reduced by 50% through three approaches: 1. Encouraging users to behave in a safe manner, through training, penalty and harsher policing. 2. Improving road infrastructure. 3. Making vehicles safer through improved active and passive safety measures and technology. The focus of this contribution lays on some aspects of the third approach, and more preciously of the improvement of the driver's visibility conditions. This paper presents a concept of an active front-lighting system, which can adapt its light distribution according to the changes in the traffic conditions. This system tends to achieve an optimal illumination of the traffic space by avoiding glaring the other road participants and creating the conditions for an optimal visual perception to the driver.