Adaptive Light Control - in the BMW Driving Simulator

A new light concept called Adaptive Light Control (ALC) is developed with the aim to improve night time traffic safety. ALC improves the headlamp illumination by means of continuous adaptation of the headlamps according to the current driving situation and current environment. In order to ensure rapid prototyping and early testing the step from off-line to online (real-time) simulation of light distributions in the driving simulator has been successfully done. This real time simulation enabled the interactive development of new light distributions in different driving situations and driving environments. The solutions are directly ported to real vehicles to allow further testing with natural road conditions. The growing competition in the automotive industry in conjunction with shorter development cycles enforces the intensive application of CA-techniques for rapid prototyping. The BMW driving simulator is a development tool for systematically investigating and optimizing the interaction between man, vehicle and driving environment, providing advanced CA-techniques and validation facilities for simulation measurements. Therefore, it is an appropriate tool for the early and cost-effective development, testing and assessment of new car systems. The core of the driving simulator is a 3-pipe Onyx2 IR2 Silicon Graphics system. It enables the animation of the driving environment with stable 60 Hz in a 190 degree front view and three rear views covering the rear mirrors of a car. A wide range of simulation modules enables the realization and verification of automotive solutions like driver assistance systems and vehicle concepts with appropriate man-machine interfaces. As an example the development of Adaptive Light Control (ALC) will be described in the driving simulation with calculated light-distributions with CADdata for headlamps. It was necessary to implement a real-time light simulation to enable the interactive development of new light distributions in different driving situations and driving environments. In order to optimize and validate ALC lighting strategies and control algorithms an Eye-Tracking- System (ETS) was used.