Visualization of Headlight Illumination for the Virtual Prototyping of Light-Based Driver–Assistance Systems

Driving simulators that are capable of simulating a virtual drive at night are increasingly used for the virtual prototyping of light-based driver–assistance systems (DAS). Here, the interplay between driver and assistance system, which enhances the illumination of the road ahead of the vehicle, is investigated. For such investigations, special driving simulators are applied that not only enable a standard driving simulation but also cover the special requirements for the visualization of a driving scenery at night, the simulation of automotive headlights during a virtual drive at night, and the interface to a headlight control module (HCM) that operates the physical headlight prototypes. In this paper, we present the visualization system of the reconfigurable driving simulator from the research project TRAFFIS. We describe the special application focus on the virtual prototyping of a light-based DAS from our project partner Varroc Lighting Systems. The light-based DAS is based on a headlight prototype that combines a glare-free high-beam (GFHB) function and a predictive adaptive frontlighting system (PAFS) for glare-free driving with maximized headlight time.