
TI introduces DLP for headlights - rbanffy
https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/ti-introduces-dlp-headlights-2018-01/
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junkcollector
I got a demo of this technology close to about 10 years ago from TI. Their
"killer app" in the lab was a pairing of the DLP with their DSPs to track rain
while driving and reduce illumination of rain drops such that glare to the
driver was substantially reduced. It was in a lab, but it worked surprisingly
well.

Another thing that many people don't realize is that TI makes a huge number of
automotive parts currently with extremely tight reliability controls in place
for customers like Toyota, as well as established supply chains from silicon
to road via companies like Temic automotive.

Personally, I hope TI continues to develop DLP into new markets. The tech is
really cool, their miniaturized projectors using laser sources for embedding
into smartphones is another demo I saw that would be really interesting if it
ever hits market.

~~~
metaphor
> Another thing that many people don't realize is that TI makes a huge number
> of automotive parts currently with extremely tight reliability controls...

Any idea how many of those leverage MEMS tech at the scale and complexity of
DLP?

DLP complexity + high vibration platform + operating temperature extremes on
both ends of the gamut doesn't strike me as reliable by any stretch of
imagination.

~~~
junkcollector
TI makes some MEMS devices for automotive applications, but I don't know of
anything in automotive with the type of complexity involved in a DLP. Their
mixed signal integrated controls are pretty nuts but not mechanical.

The reason I'm not to worried about reliability is more or less as follows.
The fact that TI makes other automotive parts is important because they know
exactly what kind of environment these parts will be subjected to, they know
how they will be handled when they are assembled from the chips TI ships into
automotive boards, and what corners will be cut when those boards are sold and
turned into assemblies which are sold and turned into cars. They have plenty
of experience in determining what kind of reliability intervals will be
required. TI built their first DLPs back in the 80s. They made their first
commercial ones in the mid 90's. They probably never turned a profit on DLP
until the mid 2000's which is about when they first demonstrated working
prototype DLP headlights. They then spent 10 years refining them before taking
them to market. TI isn't Facebook, they don't move fast and break things, they
are an old school technology company that moves slow and reliable. If they get
a reputation for poor reliability they stand to lose decades of investment and
future revenue and they know it.

Another thing a lot of people probably don't know is that every TI part that
fails in an automotive application gets returned to TI where a team of
engineers meticulously dismantle it until they determine the exact cause of
failure. They are legally obligated to do this from contracts with auto
manufacturers but the net results for TI has been the development of one of
the worlds most sophisticated semi-conductor reverse engineering capabilities.

------
post_break
If we can't have adaptive high beams [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSI-
NVD1who](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSI-NVD1who)] in the US we definitely
can't have DLP. DOT for headlights in the US is awful. There should be
revamped laws for headlights. When the base model has better output with
terrible reflector technology than halogen projector you've screwed up the
regulations.

[http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/more-than-half-
of-...](http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/more-than-half-of-midsize-
suv-headlights-tested-rate-marginal-or-poor)

~~~
nerpderp83
When you get your retinas burned out by HID bulb in an oncoming car, thank the
DOT. Rating is based on watts delivered to lights, not photons delivered to
driver. Law shouldn't even have type checked.

~~~
u801e
About 17 years ago, the NHTSA had a public comment period about glare from
headlamps. One response [1] was particularly informative.

[1]
[https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=NHTSA...](https://www.regulations.gov/contentStreamer?documentId=NHTSA-2001-8885-3657&attachmentNumber=1&contentType=pdf)

~~~
nerpderp83
> Automaker philanthropy cannot be relied upon to control headlamp glare.

This is exceedingly well written.

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u801e
It would be nice if the US would update their headlamp beam pattern standards
to be in line with the rest of the world. They allow low beams with
insufficient beam width (leading people to use their fog lamps to address the
issue), to much glare for oncoming traffic (lack of an asymmetric cutoff), and
high beams that are limited to half the hotspot intensity. Also the fact that
they require a manual switch between low and high beam prevents the
introduction of more advanced vehicle lighting systems that are available in
the rest of the world.

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phkahler
I had this idea more than a decade ago but for another reason. If you're
driving in heavy snow, the headlights light up large flakes near the car and
make it hard to see beyond them. If you add another light at a non-visible
wavelength and an image sensor whose pixels can be mapped to the DPL light at
very high frame rates, you could turn off the visible lighting that
illuminates the big bright snow flakes. Suddenly the stuff you want to see in
the distance would be more visible. When I first thought of it, resolution
seemed OK but frame rate would probably not have been high enough. I recently
revisited the idea and it seems entirely possible today.

Snow Lights.

~~~
todd8
That's such a good idea, and it's just the sort of inventive thinking that I
really like hearing: the problem is obvious and anybody that knew anything
about DLP's should realize that they can very rapidly control the illumination
of any pixel, but who would come up with the idea of controlling light like
that!

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todd8
TI's DLP technology, used in 85% of digital cinema displays, utilizes a matrix
of tiny articulated mirrors, one for each pixel. Each of these mirrors has two
controllable positions (for example +17 degrees and -17 degrees). A separate
light source (LED, laser, etc.) shines on the matrix, and the mirrors within
the matrix at one of the orientations reflect light at the target. These
devices have been used in projection systems since 1997. See [1] and [2].

The advantage in automotive applications is that the light can be bright
enough for automotive applications while allowing the illuminated area to be
controlled through software. Illumination levels and regions can be modulated
in response to the car's speed, steering, location, recognition of oncoming
cars, etc. [3]

[1] [http://www.ti.com/dlp-chip/getting-started.html](http://www.ti.com/dlp-
chip/getting-started.html)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Light_Processing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Light_Processing)

[3] [http://www.ti.com/dlp-
chip/automotive/overview.html](http://www.ti.com/dlp-
chip/automotive/overview.html)

------
todd8
I noticed on the TI DLP product web page for automotive [1] that heads up
displays are another intended use. I've driven my daughter's car and really
like color heads up display in her vehicle--It took a few minutes to get used.
The ability to see the essential GPS information floating ahead in my field of
view was far less distracting than having to look down at the instrument panel
to read it.

[1] [http://www.ti.com/dlp-
chip/automotive/applications/applicati...](http://www.ti.com/dlp-
chip/automotive/applications/applications.html)

------
cjsuk
This sounds expensive and unreliable and will just result in very expensive
headlight assemblies that have to be replaced entirely. Also inability to get
the parts to fix them a decade down the line.

This is already a problem with some vehicles with relatively simple lamp
assemblies.

~~~
todd8
They will certainly be more complex in the sense that software will control
the areas in the drivers view to be illuminated, but headlight assemblies that
respond to steering position and car pitch angle are already expensive and
burdened with electromechanical mechanisms to direct the light. They make a
large difference in safety though.

TI DLP will allow this to happen without all of the electromechanical
mechanisms. The DLP technology has been around for 20 years.

~~~
Bromskloss
> TI DLP will allow this to happen without all of the electromechanical
> mechanisms.

Do we not count a DLP as an electromechanical device?

~~~
todd8
Well, I did hesitate when I was writing that statement, and technically you
are right that microscopic mirrors positioned by electrostatic forces are
electromechanical. :)

My original point, and what my complete sentence said, is that the this one
large solid state chip is able to serve as in advanced automotive lighting
functions without all of the (currently used) electromechanical mechanisms. It
really is quite different and has unique advantages. Here's a YouTube video
that explains the operation of a DLP:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nb8mM3uEIc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nb8mM3uEIc)

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mschuster91
DLPs are sensitive enough for shock and alignment issues when in a projector -
how are they planning to do this with a car?!

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tinus_hn
Great, now you can pay for your car to project ads onto the road!

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westmeal
I imagine instead of making headlights easier to replace it's going to
skyrocket in price and run off of closed source software. Why would this be a
good addition for cars?

~~~
nateguchi
I'm currently in the annoying situation where I need to replace the "Adaptive"
LED headlights on my BMW, these units cost ~£3000 which is significantly more
than the alternative (bulbs)....

~~~
nerpderp83
> BMW

You signed up for this.

------
jordache
why would you want a specific shape to be projected by your headlights? Having
a sharp level of light beam defined, I agree.

Why would you want shape? You want everything to be lit up in front of the
vehicle. This would hold true even for autonomous vehicles, where you blast
the area in front of you with some wavelength of light.

~~~
chillingeffect
I understand your comment as the details of the usefulness are buried pretty
deep. I had to dig down to the 2nd half of sentence #2 to get the answer:
"while minimizing the glare to oncoming traffic or reflections from
retroreflective traffic signs."

~~~
jordache
>reflections from retroreflective traffic signs.

So you mask out the stop sign in front of you, and that diminishes the
visibility of the sign. Or the light masks the stop sign and lowers the
intensity of light within that octagon?

Then you have a camera from the perspective of each headlight, then what? You
flood the scene with IR light? I guess it could work - It will require a lot
of supporting technologies that TI is probably not in the position to develop.

~~~
chillingeffect
> TI is probably not in the position to develop.

Once again, they've buried the details way deep down in this article, nearly
impossible to find. In this outlandish case, I had to reach as far down as the
1st half of the second sentence which subtly discloses (emphasis mine):

" __ _Automakers and Tier-1 suppliers_ __can use this new programmable ADB
solution to design headlight systems "

