Tomorrow is Today

Smart Headlights “Dis-illuminate” Raindrops and Snowflakes to Reduce Glare

A prototype headlight system can detect raindrops or snow streaks and “dis-illuminate” them, thereby increasing visibility on the road ahead.

The system uses a digital projector to illuminate raindrops for several milliseconds while a camera mounted on the side of the projector captures each raindrop’s location; software predicts where those raindrops will fall within the driver’s field of view. Light rays from the headlight that would normally hit the raindrop are automatically switched off, reducing glare and leaving only the beams of light which travel uninterrupted in between the falling drops.

(via Smart Headlights See through Rain and Snow - Technology Review)