Ford Spot Lighting

Some neat ideas from Ford's research department, though I don't know how effective these systems are. I can't tell if something like this is more gimmicky than helpful. The spot light, for example, was hard to see on video.

Link to Autoweek

Regardless, I do wish that legislation on these systems would generally move a little faster... But I suppose that it's only a matter of time.

Does anybody ever get the impression that for all the funding and effort that goes into these kinds of research projects, there could easily have been a fairly large safety benefit through just making good headlights up front through conventional technology (See: not trying so skimp a few bucks through bargain spec equipment)?

Not saying that research is unimportant by any means.

The article's a bit misleading, in that none of these ideas are new, and none of them are Ford's. Audi and others have had these systems on the road (at least in Europe; some of them also in USA) for at least four years now. Ford's innovation may come in the area of cost reduction; not many people buying Fords have Audi-style money to spend. The automatic spotlights are really quite a big help; more and more makers are putting them on their cars in Europe. I agree the video doesn't really show them well, but in person they are very impressive. The line of light on the road draws the driver's attention and "points" directly at the formerly invisible, now lit pedestrian or animal. The latest systems have fine enough resolution that they can light up a pedestrian only below their face, so they're not blinded.

Good headlamps are better than minimally-legal headlamps, yes, but even the world's best low beams are just not good enough to prevent pedestrian and animal collisions from happening. That's why ADB, spotlights, IR pedestrian/animal detection, and other such technology are "front burner" type of material.

-Virgil- said:

The article's a bit misleading, in that none of these ideas are new, and none of them are Ford's. Audi and others have had these systems on the road (at least in Europe; some of them also in USA) for at least four years now.

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Whoops! First time I've heard of it. I feel a little ashamed of myself to be honest.

The automatic spotlights are really quite a big help; more and more makers are putting them on their cars in Europe. I agree the video doesn't really show them well, but in person they are very impressive. The line of light on the road draws the driver's attention and "points" directly at the formerly invisible, now lit pedestrian or animal.

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Good to know! It is hard to tell if these kinds of things are a help or not from here.

The latest systems have fine enough resolution that they can light up a pedestrian only below their face, so they're not blinded.

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Now that is cool! I was thinking that while being blinded by a spot light wouldn't be any fun, at least you're visible to the motorist. You can eat your cake and have it too. :thumbsup:

Good headlamps are better than minimally-legal headlamps, yes, but even the world's best low beams are just not good enough to prevent pedestrian and animal collisions from happening. That's why ADB, spotlights, IR pedestrian/animal detection, and other such technology are "front burner" type of material.

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Makes sense. You didn't mention the other feature, where the low beams swivel outwards at intersections or roundabouts. Useful also?

As for the IR cameras you mentioned, what's the verdict on that? I recently got to poke around and drive an ~'13 and new S-Class, but didn't think to play with that feature (suspension design and dynamics have always been my first love, followed by engines). I'd feel better about it if they could set it up as HUD instead of having to glance down all of the time. Hopefully that feature will trickle down to other vehicles eventually if it is useful.

Franco said:

The latest systems have fine enough resolution that they can light up a pedestrian only below their face, so they're not blinded.

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Now that is cool! I was thinking that while being blinded by a spot light wouldn't be any fun, at least you're visible to the motorist. You can eat your cake and have it too. :thumbsup:

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I agree. Now something has to be done about recognizing deer eyes and keeping the light out of them, because headlights are bright enough to incapacitate a deer. That's why they don't run off as a car approaches. Good article about it here.

You didn't mention the other feature, where the low beams swivel outwards at intersections or roundabouts. Useful also?

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Yes, definitely. When entering, using, and leaving a roundabout/traffic circle, you need hardly any forward seeing distance, you need width because pedestrians can come from literally almost any angle, many of which aren't lit up by conventional headlamps.

As for the IR cameras you mentioned, what's the verdict on that?

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I was sold on it the first time I did a ride-and-drive in an equipped Audi. It was a demonstration at night on a race track in France as part of the VISION vehicle lighting congress, and the weather cooperated by being foggy and rainy. Pedestrians wearing dark gray, nonreflective clothes top to bottom were stationed alongside the road at various points, and it was absolutely amazing how reliably the system detected them and framed them in yellow, then in red, then in flashing red according to how close they were to the road edge and the car. The system "saw" the pedestrians (every single one of them) long before they became visible with regular vision through the windshield. And that was back in 2010 or possibly even earlier; today's systems are even smarter.

I'd feel better about it if they could set it up as HUD instead of having to glance down all of the time.

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That's the eventual goal, and it's coming, but it's a lot harder to do well than it seems. Remember Cadillac's try some years ago?

I bought one of the Cadillac cameras off a craigslist ad a couple years ago. I found a wiring diagram online and managed to get it powered up and hooked it up to my tv to play with. It was pretty impressive. Unfortunately it was huge compared to modern versions so I never mounted it in the car. I always wondered why it never caught on given the obvious safety benefits.

I'm curious, what kind of problems did the Cadillac HUD have?

As I remember, they were never able to overcome the difficulty correctly mapping/placing the projected images onto the real-live view through the windshield.

Franco said:

Does anybody ever get the impression that for all the funding and effort that goes into these kinds of research projects, there could easily have been a fairly large safety benefit through just making good headlights up front through conventional technology (See: not trying so skimp a few bucks through bargain spec equipment)?

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I'm not so sure. Certainly, poor lighting doesn't help, but there have been times when I've been riding at night with my high beams on in rural backroads and I didn't see people with dark clothing on until I was nearly on top of them. It wasn't so much a matter of illumination, but rather discernment. 'Hey, this is actually a real live person that could step out onto the road, and not a tree/utility pole/mailbox post/etc.' I think if we have the technology to specifically highlight road hazards and human beings on the road at night, that's a good step forward.

Until then, people who like to walk at night really should be wearing reflective or at the very least brightly colored clothing. I've seen some people wear LED blinkies, but most of the ones I've seen people wearing are too dim to see from a safe distance. And I'm not sure that the blinking helps. I've even seen people wear blue LED's - which end up essentially being invisible at any reasonable distance.

-Virgil- said:

I agree. Now something has to be done about recognizing deer eyes and keeping the light out of them, because headlights are bright enough to incapacitate a deer. That's why they don't run off as a car approaches. Good article about it here.

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My father once smashed into a deer because it jumped out onto the road instead of going back into the forest. Deer got up and ran away with minimal injury. Car got $3000 worth of damage.

-Virgil- said:

Remember Cadillac's try some years ago?

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Look at that!

HUD and technology that has risen in quality, while decreasing in cost, over the past years. Too bad about the imperfections back then, hopefully there will be better implementations. To me, it seems like the technology is definitely here, but the integration a definite challenge.

I looked up the Audi, and other luxo-German, systems; and I do have to say that I was pretty impressed. The Audi pedestrian detection is very neat, while the placement in the instrument cluster is much better than on the infotainment screen where I (for some reason) thought it would be.

Hopefully these are enough of a hit with customers to continue development.

jaycee88 said:

I think if we have the technology to specifically highlight road hazards and human beings on the road at night, that's a good step forward.

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I agree with you, put that way.

Until then, people who like to walk at night really should be wearing reflective or at the very least brightly colored clothing. I've seen some people wear LED blinkies, but most of the ones I've seen people wearing are too dim to see from a safe distance. And I'm not sure that the blinking helps. I've even seen people wear blue LED's - which end up essentially being invisible at any reasonable distance.

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You can't tell people what do to... There will always be people doing things like walking after dark in dark clothes, unfortunately. I do have a red rear light + red reflector (for redundancy), white front light + white reflector, amber pedal and wheel reflectors on my bike. Along with a orange vest with reflective stripes down the arms, and a little light on the front of the helmet, I feel fairly visible. Thing is, I didn't have any of that when I was younger because I thought it was lame. What a moron! There'll probably always be somebody out there not thinking enough, maybe even ourselves...

Doesn't mean we shouldn't put some effort into not running people over though.