Can the headlights be used as projectors? Talk about the lighting technology of the Maybach S-Class

Car headlights and projectors seem to have something in common, except that one is used to illuminate the night, while the other is used to project image information. With the development of car lighting technology, car companies have more capital to show off their skills in headlights. As the inventor of the car, Daimler Group has now combined car headlights with projectors and mass-produced a technology called DIGITAL LIGHT. How cool is it? Let's take a look.

　　The human-machine interaction capabilities of cars are indeed becoming more and more powerful. We can complete certain vehicle operations by speaking a word or even using a gesture. But have you noticed that this interaction is still limited to the car? In the future, with the gradual upgrade of autonomous driving, cars will need to interact with more road users. How can this be accomplished? The F 015 concept car released by Mercedes-Benz in 2015 has pioneered a new idea!

　　The idea of ​​using lights to project information in the F 015 concept car is really novel. When everyone thought it was still very "sci-fi", the new Maybach S-Class (hereinafter referred to as Maybach S-Class ) actually mass-produced this technology - DIGITAL LIGHT at this year's Geneva Motor Show .

DIGITAL LIGHT directly translates to "digital light". Each headlight group of the Maybach S-Class has 4 LED lighting units, which project light onto the road ahead through more than 1 million tiny "reflectors" in a single light group. The headlights on both sides add up to a beam of more than 2 million pixels.

　　It is a piece of cake to achieve local lighting with such a "high-definition" pixel light beam. When facing oncoming vehicles or pedestrians, it can intelligently block the light that shines on the eyes of the oncoming drivers or pedestrians. You will never be scolded as a "high-beam dog" for forgetting to switch between high and low beams, which improves road safety.

　　Mercedes-Benz 's technology is derived from the μAFS project that it previously cooperated with two companies, but it did not disclose who the partners were. In fact, the most difficult issue is not to achieve such a high-pixel lighting system, but the lighting control technology behind it. Of course, Mercedes-Benz is not simply trying to make the lights look cooler or compete for the title of "best lighting factory", but has proposed its own new theory: the combination of lighting technology and driver assistance systems .

　　Combining headlight projection technology with external sensor systems, the vehicle has gained the ability to interact more automatically with other traffic participants. For example, while ensuring active safety, the lights can automatically give feedback to pedestrians, vehicles and even road conditions on the road, providing two-way information to the driver and other traffic participants.

——Use lighting to show humanistic care

——Make “light language” more accurate

　　The lighting technology of the Maybach S-Class does not only stop at the interactive functions of these information. I think it opens another door for assisted driving technology. The vehicle can not only tell you that there is danger ahead, but also tell you where the danger is ahead and what kind of danger it is. It's like a teacher holding a laser pen in front of the blackboard, telling us where to focus our attention.

——Road condition information is directly fed back on the road surface

　　On this new Maybach S-Class , traffic information can be directly projected onto the road ahead through the headlights, allowing the driver to understand the traffic information more directly and drive more safely. For example, a snowflake pattern will be projected on a slippery road; a warning sign will be displayed on the road surface on a speed-limited road; and even when facing a construction road without lane lines, it will automatically emit two beams of light as wide as the vehicle body to assist the driver in passing.

——With such cool car lighting technology, what am I still questioning?

　　The set of DIGITAL LIGHT headlights of the Maybach S-Class is certainly of high technological value and also increases the brand added value of this luxury car. However, we cannot jump to conclusions about whether these projection information can play a convenient role in actual roads, what the user experience is like, etc.

　　Daimler is not the only one who came up with the idea of ​​giving headlights projection functions. In fact, Audi has also been conducting relevant research. It’s just that Audi , which is jokingly called the "light factory" , has not yet produced mass-produced products, but Daimler has taken the lead in installing it on real cars. I believe that its headlights are currently very expensive, so much so that only the Maybach S-Class can afford such costs at this stage. In the future, it is still uncertain which of the two German car companies can promote the technology on a larger scale and with a better cost-effectiveness, and which one will win the future.

Summarize

As for the actual use experience of the　　new Maybach S-Class headlights, we don't need to say much now, but in the context of the era of increasingly advanced driver assistance, the way it uses light to interact with the outside environment is a new idea. The mass production of the Maybach S-Class is undoubtedly a new direction for the future, but at present, the cost of this technology is still difficult for ordinary passenger cars to bear, not to mention the subsequent maintenance costs. In the foreseeable future, headlights with projector functions will no longer be a plot in science fiction novels.