A conventional ADB requires an LED per segment whereas BladeScan® ADB achieves light distribution equivalent to 300 segments with 12 LEDs.
BladeScan® ADB can achieve more precise shading control without increasing the number of LEDs by reflecting the light beam on a rotating mirror, creating a uniform illumination surface with an afterimage, and cutting off the light beam momentarily while it passes through the target area to be shaded.

When there are pedestrians in an area where might overlap vehicles ahead from the driver’s viewpoint, a conventional ADB system having less number of segments to be covered could also shade them who’s supposed to be illuminated.
Contrastingly, BladeScan® ADB is capable of minimizing the shaded area almost to the size of the vehicles ahead enabling early detection of pedestrians even ahead of the vehicles to make nighttime driving safe.

It is a system that utilizes an in-vehicle camera to detect vehicles ahead and automatically adapt photometric patterns illuminated from the headlamps according to the information.

Generally, an ADB system utilizes the in-vehicle camera to detect the position of the vehicles ahead and performs photometric control according to the information. The larger number of segments with less shaded areas it has, the later the information is transmitted, which is more likely to cause dazzling to other drivers.
Dual View Machine-Vision™, however, can prevent it by instantaneously adjusting shaded area to vehicle pitch motions through its high-speed feedback technology, which is achieved by placing an image sensor in a lamp to eliminate the parallax correction between the lamp and the sensor.

It means that the system maximizes driver’s field of view during nighttime driving by minimizing shaded areas through instantaneous adjustment to vehicle pitch motions due to bad road conditions. In addition, the system prevents the in-vehicle camera to have distracting glare resulted from high-beam lights being reflected off traffic signs or white lines by locally dimming the lights.

It monitors the surroundings by a combination of a camera excellent in recognizing objects and LiDAR outstanding for measuring distances. Since each type of a sensor has different pros and cons, they can complement each other when optimally combined to achieve highly accurate sensing to support autonomous driving.

It illuminates light patterns on the road surface (road projection lamps) for the surroundings when relative positions with pedestrians and other vehicles cause blind spot and unnoticeable for them of the presence or behavior of the vehicle such as entering an intersection, stopping, or accelerating. This facilitates early detection of the vehicle and eventually prevents accidents.

We are studying a new signal lamp (turquoise blue) to indicate autonomous driving mode for other road users. This autonomous driving signal lamp informs the vehicle actions such as running, accelerating, stopping, etc., by lighting or flashing the light to coordinate traffic.

It cleans from minor dirt and water droplets to stubborn dirt in two stages (air/cleansing liquid) depending on the nature of contamination. It first blows air to remove minor dirt and then spray cleansing liquid to remove stubborn dirt.

It would not last very long if it is used often. Thus, blowing air first contributes to conserve about 70% of the liquid compared to general cleaning systems.

The sensors installed in Street Lights in the vicinity of intersections detect pedestrians and vehicles in a blind spot of the driver. This, namely “Blind Spot Assistance System” establishing V2I communication, contributes to prevent collisions at intersections by utilizing a camera to recognize a target and LiDAR to measure distances.

Even autonomous vehicles equipped with numerous sensors have a range of blind spot comparable to conventional vehicles driven by human. Smart Street Lights constantly sensing surroundings send the information that cannot be detected by in-vehicle sensors to facilitate autonomous driving.

In addition to the sensors, Smart Street Lights is also equipped with an image projection lamp that displays light patterns on the road surface to directly alert and provide pedestrians and other road users with the information.

We are participating in a national project launched by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) to verify the practical applications and safety with an aim to develop an autonomous driving support system using infrastructure (the period of the tests: November 2020 to March 2021).