I always thought cornering lamps (of the low speed variety, not like high speed, spread beam driving lamps) were a bit of a gimmick. We get lots of cars through the shop but since we mostly do the work on them during the day the lights don't get used much. The other night, though, I was a bit late closing up and jumped in to a Hyundai i40 and turned on the lights to manoeuvre from the car park into the shop to put it away. When I turned the steering an extra light came on. At first I thought it was a headlight that had delayed starting, then eventually realised what it actually was - a cornering light.
Needless to say it took about three circumnavigations of the car park to get to the door, while I checked out these things. They throw a fairly short range beam, not very flat, more like a flood but low intensity. I would say that the "fogs" on many late model vehicles are very similar. The area lit would be roughly an arc of around 60 degrees. No light behind the line of the headlights but the extra in an area that is usually dark was very useful. The interesting thing is that they operate as the steering wheel is turned, after about 1/4 turn, and then remain on until the wheel returns near centre. I'd guess that they're speed controlled (didn't drive this one on the road).
So, like OP, I can now see a real use for something like this. Not just in parking situations but also off road where night runs can be really difficult seeing on tight tracks.
Scheinwerfermann, you seem to suggest that a set of "fog" lights turned outwards might do the job and, I assume, legally. So, I have question. In your opinion, is this viable and legal? My thought is similar to OP's except that I have a bullbar which has a panel which might suit a small flat or flush mounted light (see pic below, location marked with yellow oval). What kind of light would you suggest? Would LED be suitable? I'm pretty sure I could set up sensors for steering movement and direction and limiting operation to 1st or 2nd gear would take care of preventing high speed operation.