Ichikoh Industries Ltd will start selling a headlight system that allows to keep using high beams by continuously controlling light and avoiding bothering the drivers of other vehicles in Japan.
The system, "BeamAtic Premium," was developed by Valeo SA of France. It controls the light in accordance with the states of oncoming cars and leading cars. Ichikoh Industries will start selling it and providing technical supports for it in September 2010.
The BeamAtic Premium detects and tracks oncoming and leading cars by analyzing images taken by in-vehicle cameras with image processing software. Movable dousers are attached to the lamp units of a vehicle, and they block part of the light so that it does not bother the drivers of oncoming vehicles.
Moreover, the headlight is automatically controlled when the user is following or passing other vehicles. When the vehicle is reaching the top or the bottom of a hill, the height of an optical axis is adjusted. And the system is equipped with the AFS (adaptive front-lighting system).
In general, when a car is coming from the opposite direction during nighttime hours, it is necessary to switch high beam to low. But, with the new system, high beams do not light other vehicles, and the drivers of other vehicles only see low beams. Therefore, it offers a comfortable and safe view by keeping using high beams.
The BeamAtic Premium was awarded with the International Technical Innovation Grand Prix at Equip Auto 2009, an international trade show on automotive technologies, which took place in September 2009 in Paris.
Ichikoh Industries will sell not only a model with an HID (high intensity discharge) light source but a model with an LED light source. It intends to propose the employment of the system for high-grade vehicles to Japanese automakers.
