Vehicular lighting apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9527434-B2
Application number	US-201514722978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2015
Priority date	Jul 9, 2014
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A vehicular lighting apparatus includes a headlight that irradiates the front of a vehicle; a condition detection part that detects a weather condition at a position of the vehicle; a travelling route estimation part that estimates a road shape of a travelling route in front of the vehicle; and a control part that controls a luminous intensity distribution of the headlight. The control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate a road surface zone in front of the vehicle with a reduced quantity of light when the condition detection part detects such a weather condition as to cause a low visibility in front of the vehicle, the road surface zone in front of the vehicle corresponding to the road shape of the travelling route estimated by the travelling route estimation part.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicular lighting apparatus comprising:
a headlight that irradiates the front of a vehicle;
a condition detection part that detects a weather condition at a position of the vehicle;
a travelling route estimation part that estimates a road shape of a travelling route in front of the vehicle; and
a control part that controls a luminous intensity distribution of the headlight, wherein
when the condition detection part does not detect a weather condition as to cause a low visibility in front of the vehicle, the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate a road surface zone at a normal quantity of light,
when the condition detection part does detect the weather condition as to cause the low visibility in front of the vehicle, the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate the road surface zone in front of the vehicle with a reduced quantity of light that is lower than the normal quantity of light, and
the road surface zone in front of the vehicle corresponding to the road shape of the travelling route estimated by the travelling route estimation part.

2. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate a predetermined angle range in an angle direction above the road surface zone in front of the vehicle with the reduced quantity of light when the condition detection part detects the weather condition as to cause the low visibility in front of the vehicle.

3. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein
the predetermined angle range in the angle direction above the road surface zone to be irradiated with the reduced quantity of light when the condition detection part detects the weather condition as to cause the low visibility in front of the vehicle corresponds to a zone in an extending direction of the road surface zone in front of the vehicle.

4. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate the front of the vehicle while reducing an upper angle part of an irradiation range of the headlight when the condition detection part detects a rainfall or a snowfall.

5. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate the front of the vehicle while reducing an upper angle part of an irradiation range of the headlight when the condition detection part detects a rainfall or a snowfall.

6. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to irradiate the front of the vehicle while reducing an upper angle part of an irradiation range of the headlight when the condition detection part detects a rainfall or a snowfall.

7. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to display a guidance indication in a fog in front of the vehicle when the condition detection part detects the fog, the guidance indication corresponding to the road shape of the travelling route estimated by the travelling route estimation part.

8. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to display a guidance indication in a fog in front of the vehicle when the condition detection part detects the fog, the guidance indication corresponding to the road shape of the travelling route estimated by the travelling route estimation part.

9. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein
the control part controls the headlight in such a manner as to display a guidance indication in a fog in front of the vehicle when the condition detection part detects the fog, the guidance indication corresponding to the road shape of the travelling route estimated by the travelling route estimation part.

10. The vehicular lighting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a vehicle travelling state detection part that detects a vehicle traveling state and a control state of the headlight,
wherein the control part controls the luminous intensity distribution of the headlight based on the vehicle traveling state and the control state of the headlight when the condition detection part does detect the weather condition as to cause the low visibility in front of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakashima Kazuhiko

Classifications

• B60Q1/20

  Fog lights · CPC title

• B60Q2300/312

  Adverse weather · CPC title

• B60Q2300/322

  Road curvature · CPC title

• B60Q2400/50

  Projected symbol or information, e.g. onto the road or car body · CPC title

• B60Q2300/33

  Driving situation · CPC title