Vehicles with automatic headlight alignment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12017577-B2
Application number	US-202217721146-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2022
Priority date	Jun 30, 2021
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A vehicle may have lights such as headlights. The lights may be moved using a positioner. Control circuitry in the vehicle may use sensor circuitry to monitor the environment surrounding the vehicle. The sensor circuitry may include one or more sensors such as a lidar sensor, radar sensor, image sensor, and/or other sensors to measure the shape of a surface in front of the vehicle and the location of the surface relative to the vehicle. These sensors and/or other sensors in the sensor circuitry also measure headlight illumination on the surface. Based on the known shape of the surface in front of the vehicle and the distance of the surface from the vehicle, the control circuitry can predict where a headlight should be aimed on the surface. By comparing predictions of headlight illumination on the surface to measurements of headlight illumination on the surface, the vehicle can determine how to move the headlight with the positioner to align the headlight.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body;
a headlight supported by the vehicle body that is configured to produce headlight illumination;
control circuitry configured to detect a difference between an expected direction of the headlight illumination and a measured direction of the headlight illumination;
an electrically adjustable positioner; and
a sensor configured to detect tilt of the vehicle body relative to a roadway, wherein the expected direction of the headlight illumination is based on the detected tilt and wherein the electrically adjustable positioner is configured to align the headlight in response to the detected difference between the expected direction of the headlight illumination and the measured direction of the headlight illumination when the control circuitry adjusts the electrically adjustable positioner in response to the detected tilt.

2. The vehicle defined in claim 1 further comprising:
forward-facing sensor circuitry on the vehicle body that is configured to capture a three-dimensional image of a surface in front of the vehicle body and that is configured to measure the headlight illumination from the headlight as the headlight illuminates the surface, wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the three-dimensional image and the measured headlight illumination on the surface in determining the expected direction of the headlight illumination.

3. The vehicle defined in claim 2 wherein the forward-facing sensor circuitry comprises a two-dimensional image sensor configured to measure the headlight illumination.

4. The vehicle defined in claim 2 wherein the forward-facing sensor circuitry comprises a lidar sensor that captures the three-dimensional image.

5. The vehicle defined in claim 2 wherein the forward-facing sensor circuitry comprises a three-dimensional sensor configured to capture the three-dimensional image and wherein the three-dimensional sensor comprises a three-dimensional sensor selected from the group consisting of:
a radar sensor, a stereoscopic camera, and a structured light sensor.

6. The vehicle defined in claim 1 further comprising an additional sensor configured to measure the headlight illumination while the control circuitry adjusts the headlight to change the headlight illumination.

7. The vehicle defined in claim 6 wherein the headlight comprises multiple light sources and wherein the additional sensor is configured to measure the headlight illumination while the control circuitry adjusts the multiple light sources to produce different respective amounts of light.

8. The vehicle defined in claim 6 wherein the headlight is operable in a low-beam mode and a high-beam mode and wherein the additional sensor is configured to measure the headlight illumination while the control circuitry changes the headlight between operation in the low-beam mode and operation in the high-beam mode.

9. The vehicle defined in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust the electrically adjustable positioner based on information, wherein the information comprises information selected from the group consisting of: weather information, vehicle location information, and roadway information.

10. The vehicle defined in claim 1 further comprising:
navigation system circuitry configured to determine a vehicle location, wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the determined vehicle location to retrieve a three-dimensional surface shape from a database corresponding to a surface in front of the vehicle body; and
an image sensor configured to measure the headlight illumination from the headlight as the headlight illuminates the surface, wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the three-dimensional surface shape and the measured headlight illumination on the surface in determining the expected direction of the headlight illumination.

11. The vehicle defined in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is further configured to calibrate the electrically adjustable positioner while the vehicle body is parked.

12. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body;
a headlight that includes independently adjustable light sources and that is configured to produce headlight illumination on a surface in front of the vehicle body by activating different subsets of the independent adjustable light sources in sequence;
sensor circuitry configured to obtain a surface measurement on the surface and configured to obtain partially activated headlight illumination measurements of the headlight illumination on the surface, each of the partially activated headlight illumination measurements corresponding to the activation of a given subset of the different subsets of the independently adjustable light sources;
an electrically adjustable positioner configured to move the headlight relative to the vehicle body; and
control circuitry configured to adjust the electrically adjustable positioner to align the headlight, wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust, when aligning the headlight, relative output intensities of the independently adjustable light sources based on the partially activated headlight illumination measurements.

13. The vehicle defined in claim 12 wherein the sensor circuitry comprises a three-dimensional sensor and wherein the surface measurement comprises a three-dimensional surface shape gathered by the three-dimensional sensor.

14. The vehicle defined in claim 13 wherein the three-dimensional sensor comprises a lidar sensor.

15. The vehicle defined in claim 13 wherein the three-dimensional sensor comprises a stereoscopic sensor having a pair of cameras.

16. The vehicle defined in claim 13 wherein the three-dimensional sensor comprises an optical sensor.

17. The vehicle defined in claim 13 wherein the three-dimensional sensor comprises a radar sensor.

18. The vehicle defined in claim 13 wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine expected output intensities of the different subsets of the independently adjustable light sources and is configured to compare the expected output intensities to the partially activated headlight illumination measurements.

19. The vehicle defined in claim 18 wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust the relative output intensities of the independently adjustable light sources based on the comparison of the expected output intensities to the partially activated headlight illumination measurements.

20. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body;
a headlight;
a positioner configured to move the headlight relative to the vehicle body;
a three-dimensional sensor configured to measure a surface of an object in front of the vehicle body;
an image sensor configured to measure a position on the surface where the headlight is pointed; and
control circuitry configured to:
calibrate the positioner when the vehicle is parked by directing the positioner to move while making sensor measurements to evaluate accuracy of the movement;
use the measured surface to determine a predicated position on the object where the headlight is expected to be aimed when the headlight is aligned relative to the vehicle body;
compare the measured position to the predicated position; and
use the positioner to move the headlight based on the comparison.

21. The vehicle defined in claim 20 wherein the surface has a shape, wherein the surface is located at a distance from the vehicle body, and wherein the three-dimensional sensor is configured to measure the shape of th

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Child Christopher P
• Mazuir Clarisse
• Stiehl Kurt R
• Zurcher Mark A
• Mannberg Mikael B
• Garrone Ryan J
• Tang Xiaofeng

Classifications

• B60Q1/0023

  the element being a sensor, e.g. distance sensor, camera · CPC title

• B60Q2300/324

  Road inclination, e.g. uphill or downhill · CPC title

• B60Q1/10

  due to vehicle inclination, e.g. due to load distribution · CPC title

• B60Q2300/13

  Attitude of the vehicle body · CPC title

• G01B11/24

  for measuring contours or curvatures · CPC title