Volkswagen Cars get Smartbeam Headlights
Gentex Corporation has announced that it is now shipping its SmartBeam automatic headlight control for nine Volkswagen models
SmartBeam high-beam assist system is now being offered on nine Volkswagen vehicle models. The headlight upgrade is now available as an option in Europe on the Eos, Golf, Jetta, Jetta Sportswagen, Passat, Passat CC, Scirocco, Touran and Sharan.
SmartBeam uses a miniature camera-on-a-chip to automatically operate a vehicle’s high beams when appropriate. The built in computer control checks the conditions to prevent dazzling other road users, while maximising the forward visibility on unlit streets. It’s also useful for the extremely lazy as you no longer have to turn the headlight high beams on and off manually.
“Gentex’s SmartBeam system was the first of its kind, and it continues to gain popularity around the world,” said Gentex senior vice president Enoch Jen. “This rollout across the VW Group shows how the feature is helping to improve forward lighting and driver safety on vehicles in every market segment, including compact cars, SUVs and minivans.”
The next generation of SmartBeam products will not only automate high- and low-beam switching, but also will produce continuously variable low-beam patterns, and control “constant ON” high beam systems that require “next-generation” headlamp hardware currently being developed by various headlamp manufacturers. For these future systems, SmartBeam generates “block-out” or “glare-free” zones around oncoming and preceding traffic, allowing light to be cast around surrounding traffic for maximum forward lighting.
