While driving have you ever thought of your headlights focusing a curve before you made the turn so that you don’t have any surprise on the bend? Yes, most drivers feel it that way. Though the headlights are supposed to shine right ahead, when you are on a curve, the other side of the curve needs to be illuminated, too. But the headlights, being fixed with the car’s front part, normally lighten right ahead. And when your car’s head has completed the curve (it’s the moment you have lights on the curve), it’s too late. Many incidents took place in the curves, at night due to this characteristic of the light.
Then came BMW with a solution, when others groaned, oh sh*t, why didn’t we think of it before? It’s the technology of Adaptive Lights; lights that are intelligent and know where to focus when you drive. Lights that turn as soon as you start wheeling, which is much before the body has turned actually!
The adaptive headlights have a control system which is geared with the steering to anticipate your turning on a curve. It has two sets of variable headlight mechanism which will enable the driver to see both right ahead and on intended curvature. The mechanism is based on sensors which gets the change of course from the steering system and a computer that calculates the variation of the headlight focus angle.
Apart form shining the curve, the Adaptive Headlights also automatically controls the illumination level in function of the speed and direction of the car. So they can automatically switch between a full beam and a dipped beam also.
At present BMW is offering the Adaptive Headlights with the new 5 Series cars and new models.
In addition to the Adaptive Headlights, there are Adaptive Brake Lights also. They are also “intelligent” to switch automatically between a “normal” and an “enlarged” light area depending upon the brake level. These brake lights are already installed in all BMW Series 7 and 3 Coupe/Cabriolets. They are also available in the Z4 and X5 models.