Apple may have abandoned plans for an Apple Car, but the tech giant is still being granted patents related to vehicle technology. One is number US 12017577 B2 for “Vehicles With Automatic Headlight Alignment.”
About the patent
Obviously, automobiles have lights such as headlights. To accommodate different driving conditions, headlights are sometimes provided with adjustable settings such as low beam and high beam settings. Some headlights can be steered during operation to accommodate road curvature.
Apple’s patent involves sensor circuitry in a vehicle that could measure the shape and location of surfaces in front of the vehicle. The sensor circuitry could measure how the headlights illuminate the surfaces as light from the headlights is projected onto the surfaces.
What’s more, information on the three-dimensional shape of a surface in front of the vehicle can be used to predict where the headlights should be aimed and therefore the pattern of illumination from the headlights on the surface when the headlights are aligned relative to the vehicle. By comparing a prediction of headlight illumination intensity on the surface to measured headlight illumination intensity on the surface, the vehicle can determine how to move the headlight with the positioner to align the headlight.
What’s more, Apple says that information on the three-dimensional shape of a surface in front of the vehicle may be obtained from a database. For example, a three-dimensional map of the environment may be stored in a navigation database. Information from satellite navigation system sensors and/or other navigation sensors may be used to determine vehicle location. The known vehicle location may then be used to retrieve corresponding three-dimensional surface shape information from the database.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A vehicle may have lights such as headlights. The lights may be moved using a positioner. Control circuitry in the vehicle may use sensor circuitry to monitor the environment surrounding the vehicle. The sensor circuitry may include one or more sensors such as a lidar sensor, radar sensor, image sensor, and/or other sensors to measure the shape of a surface in front of the vehicle and the location of the surface relative to the vehicle.
“These sensors and/or other sensors in the sensor circuitry also measure headlight illumination on the surface. Based on the known shape of the surface in front of the vehicle and the distance of the surface from the vehicle, the control circuitry can predict where a headlight should be aimed on the surface. By comparing predictions of headlight illumination on the surface to measurements of headlight illumination on the surface, the vehicle can determine how to move the headlight with the positioner to align the headlight.”
