When Hyundai Mobis isn’t working on the Hyundai Ioniq 5’s cutting-edge four-wheel steering and in-wheel drive system or its roll-up OLED screen, it’s thinking of creative ways to keep you and those around you informed. What if, instead of a heads-up display (HUD), your headlights showed information about signs, hazards, and other things ahead? If Hyundai’s tech division in Seoul is successful and adaptive lighting technology is finally used in the U.S., your front lighting could move in that direction. Even though adjustable headlights aren’t new and are often used in places where the technology is legal, what Hyundai Mobis is showing here does more than ensure that your brights don’t blind approaching traffic. The idea is to use your headlights at night to display information from a HUD on the ground before you. Hyundai Mobis says that this technology’s main benefit is making pedestrian crashes less likely at night. For example, the gadget could shine a light on a person crossing the street and project a crosswalk when a car has stopped and it’s safe. Along with the individual dimming that adaptive headlights can do now, they can also show real-time driving information such as road hazards, GPS navigation directions, car width restrictions for tight places, and other important driving information. In the “Under Construction” example, a symbol projected 50 feet ahead of the car with a width of just under 5 feet shows how big the road information would be. Hyundai Mobis says that this not only gives the driver a clear image that they can easily recognize, but it also gives them a lot of time to respond as they look up and down the road. A digital micromirror device (DMD) and H.D. small LEDs are used to show this message. A single headlamp module will have about 25,000 tiny LEDs. Each one will be smaller than the width of a human hair and will measure 0.0016 of an inch (0.04 mm). Hyundai Mobis says that this makes it possible to change the brightness of the headlights even more precisely than with the 80 to 120 LED bulbs used in most LED-equipped cars. After going through the DMD module, which has 1.3 million of these 0.01mm mirrors, the tiny LEDs are changed into the shapes and symbols shown on the road. Even though Hyundai Mobis has yet to say when this will be for sale, the showing of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 suggests that it will be short.
