Future of driving - heads up on headlights

By: Drivers.com staff
Date: Wednesday, 17. February 2010

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Your future automobile may have headlights that anticipate curves, hills and awkward terrain, adjusting themselves in advance, even before you need to turn the steering wheel.

Intermap Technologies, a global 3D digital mapping company, announced yesterday that it is collaborating with Hella KGaA Hueck and Company, a leading provider of innovative driver assistance systems, to develop a front lighting systems for vehicles that would enable the lighting system to adjust in response to detailed information from Intermap about the contours of the road ahead.

Up to now, lighting adjustment systems have been capable of turning through the corner as you begin steering. The Hella-intermap system will know about the curve in advance,and being 3D, it will also know if the road slopes up or down. Your headlights will actually help you steer by showing you the contours before you begin steering.

"Intermap has developed the world's only database encompassing accurate 3D geometry for every road in the United States and Europe," senior vice president Eric DesRoche told Business Wire recently.

DesRoche says this is especially important for all classes of roads including smaller rural roads,which usually have more difficult curves and dips.

In addition, says DesRoche, the #D mapping and driver assistance link up could be operated independently from onboard 2D navigation systems. t is one of many driver assistance technologies coming down the pipe from Intermap's 3D mapping capabilities.

Intermap Technologies has offices in Denver, Detroit, Calgary, Jakarta, London, Munich, and Ottawa. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange s IMAP and on the Toronto stock exchange as IMP.

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