DRIVERS should be able to see pedestrians in the dark, even when they are outside the range of the headlight beam, says US motor company Delco Electronics of Kokomo, Indiana.
In European patent application 686 865 the company suggests fitting cars with an infrared video camera beside the headlights. The camera output is fed to a small LCD screen in the dashboard, and a mirror reflects the image onto the windscreen. The effect resembles the 鈥渉ead up鈥� display which gives fighter pilots a view of the cockpit control panel without looking down.
The reflected image of the LCD screen merges with the driver鈥檚 normal view of the road ahead. The mirror is aspheric to compensate for the distortion introduced by the curve of the windscreen.
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The driver can see pedestrians in the headlights in the usual way, as well as superimposed images of any warm objects, such as people, animals or the exhaust pipe of the car in front.