The research from L-LAB in Lippstadt for better safety on roads

Driving at night is considerably more difficult due to the limited visibility. Adverse weather conditions, such as fog or heavy snowfall, can further impair the driver’s visibility and increase the risk of an accident. In this context, it is critical that limited visibility leads to particularly serious accidents.

In order to increase road safety, especially in night-time fog situations, the L-LAB in Lippstadt is researching how headlamps can be optimized for adverse weather conditions. The L-LAB lighting laboratory is a research facility for automotive lighting run by HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA together with the University of Paderborn and the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences.

In the research project the VS2k visibility sensor from Lufft is used. The sensor measures visibility precisely up to 2000 m and is therefore ideal for applications in traffic research. High-resolution prototype headlights from HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA allow a flexible adjustment of the light distribution. Thus, different parameters of the light distribution can be varied and their influence on the visibility can be tested. The visibility that is measured with the VS2k is included in the evaluation of the test data. The goal of the research project is to develop optimized light distributions to provide the driver with good visibility despite adverse weather conditions in the future.