Improving Front Lighting Systems Using 3D Maps

"Intermap´s 3D road data is a key enabler of our map-based predictive front lighting application," said Dr.-Ing. Georg Florissen, Hella's head of advanced development, driver assistance systems lighting. "Overall, this integration of digital map data provides a comprehensive and secure system, combining the data with camera and other sensors to take our predictive front lighting systems to the next level."

Intermap senior vice president, automotive group, Eric DesRoche, said "Intermap has developed the world's only database encompassing accurate 3D road geometry for every road in the United States and Western Europe. It is important that vehicle safety systems encompass reliable 3D road vectors for all classes of roads, including smaller rural roads, as these are often where the more difficult curves, dips, and slopes are encountered. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that certain vehicle functions, such as lighting, can be operated via an independent 3D map database, separate from onboard 2D navigation systems. This lighting application is the first of many ADAS and safety applications, leveraging Intermap's reliable 3D maps, which we expect to see in the next generation of passenger vehicles."

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, adaptive headlight systems are meant to improve visibility on curved roads. Accidents related to this type of driving account for four percent of front-to-rear, single-driver, and sideswipe same direction crashes in the US, or approximately 143,000 per year. Adaptive headlight systems could help reduce the number of related fatal crashes from the nearly 2,500 currently in the US every year.