Hyundai Mobis presents the HD Lighting System, headlights that can project street signs on the road

Modern cars consistently push the boundaries of innovation in terms of safety, with cars increasing in numbers, car manufacturers are finding more ways to make driving safer. Hyundai, in particular, has made significant strides in this area by introducing advanced headlights specifically designed to minimize nighttime accidents.

Hyundai Mobis, a subsidiary of Hyundai responsible for manufacturing car parts, recently revealed an innovative lighting system capable of projecting text or images onto the road's surface. Hyundai Mobis, in a press release, highlighted this technology as a promising expansion of the driving information displayed in head-up displays, as well as a potential means of alerting pedestrians to potential hazards.

Called the HD Lighting System technology, this cutting-edge technology utilizes a digital micromirror device (DMD), comprising an array of minuscule mirrors functioning as reflectors to project desired shapes and symbols onto surfaces. Fun fact, Hyundai Mobis says that this lighting system has about 25,000 micro LEDs with a width of a mere 0.04 mm. In addition, the company says this configuration empowers the lamp to exercise greater control over light by using a significantly larger number of LEDs. Consequently, the lamp achieves heightened sensitivity, allowing for more precise identification of objects and pedestrians with enhanced accuracy.

Moving back to the DMD, Hyundai Mobis explains that the DMD is an ultra-precise controller, utilizing microscopic mirrors measuring 0.01 mm to effectively reflect light. Densely packed LEDs emit light which is reflected on 1.3 million of these tiny mirrors, enabling the projection of desired shapes and symbols onto the road's surface. 

The way the HD Lighting System works involves projecting road signs in the form of text or shapes based on information fed by the car’s camera and GPS in real time. To illustrate, if there is road construction ahead, the system can project an "under construction" sign to the road, effectively alerting drivers. Moreover, this advanced technology has the capability to project speed limits as well as pedestrian crossings. 

The HD Lighting System also has the capability to proactively prevent pedestrian accidents. Through the use of a camera sensor, the system can identify pedestrians while on the move and display a virtual crosswalk on the road when the vehicle comes to a halt. 

Will we see this in future production cars? While Hyundai’s HD projecting headlights are a neat innovation, this type of technology is still in its infancy and may take a considerable amount of time before it can be mass-produced and become a standard feature on production vehicles.