Hyundai Mobis Creates Headlights That Do More Than Shine

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When not working on its innovative four-wheel steering and in-wheel drive system on the Hyundai Ioniq 5, or its roll-up OLED screen, Hyundai Mobis is working on a new way to inform you and those outside of your vehicle. Instead of a heads-up display (HUD) displaying information about signs, hazards and so forth ahead of you, what if your headlights displayed that information? If the Seoul-based tech arm of Hyundai can pull it off—and the U.S. finally gets on board with adaptive headlight technology—that might be the future for your forward illumination.

While adaptive headlights aren't new, used in many places that allow the tech, what Hyundai Mobis is demonstrating does more than just prevent your brights from blinding those around you. The idea is that your headlights would project information that you'd see on a HUD on the ground in front of you, using your headlights at night. The main benefit that Hyundai Mobis sees in this technology is that it will help prevent pedestrian accidents during nighttime driving. For example, the tech might spotlighting someone about to cross a road, and then also project a crosswalk when the vehicle is stopped and it's safe for the person to cross.

The other benefit is that it could project road hazards, GPS driving directions, vehicle width limits for narrow spaces, and other driving information that is helpful in real time, along with the individual dimming that adaptive headlights can do now. To give an idea on how large the road information will be projected, the "Under Construction" example uses a symbol that is just under five feet in diameter and projected about 50 feet ahead of the vehicle. Hyundai Mobis says that this will not only project a clear image the driver can easily recognize, but also give the driver enough time to react as they look ahead and down the road.

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The way this messaging is achieved is using HD micro LEDs and a digital micro mirror device (DMD). The micro LEDs are only 0.0016 of an inch (0.04mm), a measurement that's smaller than the human hair, and will have about 25,000 of them in a single headlight module. According to Hyundai Mobis, this allows for even more precise control of headlight illumination than the 80- to 120-LED headlights you'll find in your typical LED-equipped vehicle. These micro LEDs then pass through the DMD module that contains 1.3 million of these 0.0004 inch (0.01mm) mirrors to create the shapes and symbols that project onto the road and increase the illumination of those micro LEDs by 10,000 times.

Hyundai Mobis hasn't given a timeline on when this will be put into production, but the Hyundai Ioniq 6 demonstrator shows that it's not far off from becoming a reality.