US-12623587-B2 - Method for adjusting vehicle lighting when driving through a building site, and vehicle

US12623587B2US 12623587 B2US12623587 B2US 12623587B2US-12623587-B2

Abstract

A method for adjusting vehicle lighting when driving through a building site involves adjusting a light pattern cast by at least one vehicle headlight into an environment from a top light field, referred to as high beam, and a bottom light field, referred to as low beam, upon recognizing that a building site is being driven through by changing a light intensity with which the light pattern is generated. The light intensity at which the low beam is emitted is increased to a determined value when driving through the building site.

Inventors

Carsten Gut

Assignees

Mercedes-Benz Group AG

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20211013
Priority Date: 20201218

Claims (14)

1 . A method for adjusting vehicle lighting of a vehicle when driving through a building site, the method comprising: determining that the vehicle is driving through the building site, wherein the vehicle lighting projects a light pattern in a top light field, which is a high beam, or in a bottom light field, which is a low beam, wherein the low beam is projected at a first intensity; adjusting, responsive to the determination that the vehicle is driving through the building site, the projected light pattern to the low beam at a second intensity that is increased compared to the first intensity; and shifting, when an exit is recognized while the vehicle is driving through the building site, a light pattern focus to a region of an environment of the vehicle corresponding to the exit or a surface occupied by the light pattern is broadened so that the region of the environment corresponding to the exit is also at least partially lit.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the light intensity at which the high beam is emitted is reduced or the high beam is deactivated when driving through the building site.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination that the vehicle is driving through the building site comprises: evaluating at least one camera image generated by a vehicle camera of the vehicle; evaluating a sensor signal provided by a radar system of the vehicle; comparing a current vehicle position, which is determined by a global navigation satellite system, with map material; evaluating a current vehicle speed; or evaluating a wireless building site indication signal transmitted via a vehicle-to-X communication interface.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a value of the second intensity is changed depending on a road condition, which is a road surface or puddles detected on the road.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the road condition is recognized by combining sensor data of at least one vehicle camera and sensor data of a laser scanner.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein when at least one further traffic participant located in a vehicle environment is detected, lighting of at least one determined region of the projected light pattern, is omitted in a targeted manner, wherein the at least one determined region is the bottom light field.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the projected light pattern is produced by at least one LED matrix headlight.
8 . A vehicle, comprising: at least one headlight; an environment monitoring system; and a computing unit coupled to the at least one headlight and the environment monitoring system, wherein the computing unit is configured to determine that the vehicle is driving through a building site, wherein the vehicle lighting projects a light pattern in a top light field, which is a high beam, or in a bottom light field, which is a low beam, wherein the low beam is projected at a first intensity; adjust, responsive to the determination that the vehicle is driving through the building site, the projected light pattern to the low beam at a second intensity that is increased compared to the first intensity; and shift, when an exit is recognized while the vehicle is driving through the building site, a light pattern focus to a region of an environment of the vehicle corresponding to the exit or a surface occupied by the light pattern is broadened so that the region of the environment corresponding to the exit is also at least partially lit.
9 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the light intensity at which the high beam is emitted is reduced or the high beam is deactivated when driving through the building site.
10 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the computing unit is configured to determine that the vehicle is driving through the building site by: evaluating at least one camera image generated by a vehicle camera of the vehicle; evaluating a sensor signal provided by a radar system of the vehicle; comparing a current vehicle position, which is determined by a global navigation satellite system, with map material; evaluating a current vehicle speed; or evaluating a wireless building site indication signal transmitted via a vehicle-to-X communication interface.
11 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein a value of the second intensity is based on a detected road condition.
12 . The vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the vehicle further comprises: a camera sensor; and a laser scanner, wherein the computing unit is configured to detect the road condition by combining sensor data of the camera and sensor data of the laser scanner.
13 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein when at least one further traffic participant located in a vehicle environment is detected, lighting of at least one determined region of the projected light pattern, is omitted in a targeted manner, wherein the at least one determined region is the bottom light field.
14 . The vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the at least one headlight is a LED matrix headlight.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a method for adjusting vehicle lighting when diving through a building site, as well as to a vehicle. To ensure that vehicles can also be operated safely in darkness, for example at night, vehicles typically have a lighting device. An environment around the vehicle, in particular a road portion lying ahead of the vehicle in the direction of travel, can be lit with such a lighting device. Depending on the situation, a brightness of the light emitted by the lighting device can be adjusted, as can a direction of propagation in which the light is cast and a cross-sectional surface that the light occupies. Vehicle headlights are thus typically operated with low beam in urban environments and with high beam outside of urban environments when there is no danger of blinding further traffic participants. A person driving a vehicle is thus enabled to see further in darkness. By also increasing the brightness of the light emitted by the lighting device in addition to its range, objects that are difficult to recognize can be perceived more easily. For this purpose, a person driving a vehicle can manually switch back and forth between low beam and high beam. So-called adaptive high beam assistants are also known, which automatically adjust a lighting range and/or brightness regulation of the light emitted by the lighting device depending on sensor signals. Modern vehicles use LEDs as a lighting means, in particular in the form of so-called matrix headlights. Individual LEDs of the matrix headlight, also referred to as pixels, can be controlled in a targeted manner to exclude regions of a light cone emitted from the matrix headlights. Thus, for example, exactly the regions of the light cone can be excluded in which further traffic participants are located. Thus, high beam can be emitted and blinding further traffic participants can be simultaneously avoided. It is further known to shift a propagation direction of light emitted by the lighting device, for example by moving a reflector and/or a lens of the lighting device. Thus, for example, adaptive cornering lighting can be achieved. Driving through a building site at night represents a demanding traffic situation. A road width in the region of a building site is often reduced, which requires a person driving a vehicle to be highly alert to safely operate their vehicle. This is made more difficult by poor visibility conditions at night. People driving vehicles are blinded by a comparatively high number of reflecting environment objects such as traffic signs and/or warning beacons that reflect the light emitted by the lighting device back in the direction of the vehicle or the person driving the vehicle due to a retroreflective layer. Furthermore, a reflectivity of a renewed road surface in relation to an old road surface can be diminished, whereby more light is absorbed by the road, whereby a traffic situation in the building site region appears darker in turn. Environment objects, road markings, and exits can thus be hard to recognize or easily overlooked. A method for operating a vehicle having a lighting device is known from DE 10 2011 014 455 A1. According to the method disclosed in the document, driving through a building site is recognized and a light distribution of light emitted by vehicle headlights is automatically adjusted when driving through the building site. A static turning light is thus turned on when a building site is recognized or a cornering light is activated, and a propagation direction of the cornering light or of the static turning light is directed laterally away from the vehicle to better illuminate an edge region of the road in the building site area. An emitted light intensity is also increased according to an embodiment of the invention disclosed in the document. A person driving a vehicle can hereby better perceive road edges and/or objects located in a corresponding region, whereby a safer driving operation is enabled. To recognize that a building site is being driven through, camera images generated by a camera are evaluated and/or a current vehicle position is compared with map material, wherein building site regions are recorded in the map material. Additionally, or alternatively, driving through a building site can also be determined by a particular vehicle speed, as a reduced speed limit usually applies in building sites. A radio signal can further be transmitted to the vehicle, for example via a vehicle-to-X communication interface, to inform the vehicle about the building site. Here it is disadvantageous, however, that by brightening a lateral road edge, more light is also cast onto reflecting objects such as traffic signs and warning beacons, whereby the person driving the vehicle is blinded to an even greater extent. A vehicle lighting system is also known from DE 199 22 735 A1. The document describes adjusting light emitted by the vehicle lig