Disclosed is an optical unit wherein a rotating reflector rotates about a rotation axis in one direction, while reflecting light emitted from a light source. The rotating reflector is provided with a reflecting surface such that the light reflected by the rotating reflector, while rotating, forms a desired light distribution pattern, said light having been emitted from the light source. The light source is composed of light emitting elements. The rotation axis is provided within a plane that includes an optical axis and the light source. The rotating reflector is provided with, on the periphery of the rotation axis, a blade that functions as the reflecting surface.

A vehicle lamp control system includes an electronic control unit having a processor and a non-transitory computer readable memory including a machine-readable instruction set. The electronic control unit is communicatively coupled to a camera configured to output image data of a vehicle environment, a vehicle lamp and a steering wheel sensor. The machine-readable instruction set causes the processor to receive the image data of the vehicle environment from the camera, determine whether an external light source is present in the vehicle environment based on the image data of the vehicle environment, determine a steering wheel angle based on an output signal of the steering wheel sensor, and generate a control signal for activating the vehicle lamp when the steering wheel angle exceeds an activation steering threshold and no external light source is detected in the vehicle environment.

A method for detecting objects in the surroundings of a vehicle. The method includes reading in a first image, of a vehicle camera, which represents the surroundings taken using a first exposure time and reading in a second image of the vehicle camera, which was taken after the first image and using a second exposure time, the second exposure time differing from the first exposure time, and extracting an image detail from the second image, the image detail representing a smaller area of the surroundings than the first image. During the extracting, a position of the image detail in the second image is determined based on at least one parameter which represents information on travel of the vehicle and/or a position of an infrastructure measure in front of the vehicle and/or which is independent of a moving object that was detected in a preceding step in the image detail.

Disclosed is an optical unit wherein a rotating reflector rotates about a rotation axis in one direction, while reflecting light emitted from a light source. The rotating reflector is provided with a reflecting surface such that the light reflected by the rotating reflector, while rotating, forms a desired light distribution pattern, said light having been emitted from the light source. The light source is composed of light emitting elements. The rotation axis is provided within a plane that includes an optical axis and the light source. The rotating reflector is provided with, on the periphery of the rotation axis, a blade that functions as the reflecting surface.

The lighting management system includes: a judgement unit configured to judge whether or not a lighting state around a vehicle based on a first lighting apparatus and a second lighting apparatus meets a first reference for a light amount and a second reference for at least one of a lighting range, a lighting color, and a flashing state; a first control unit configured to control the light amount of at least one of the first lighting apparatus and the second lighting apparatus so that the lighting state is brought to meet the first reference; and a second control unit configured to control at least one of the lighting range, the lighting color, and the flashing state of at least one of the first lighting apparatus and the second lighting apparatus so that the lighting state is brought to meet the second reference.

A method for operating a lighting assistance system for a vehicle equipped with a camera at least for recording oncoming traffic participants or traffic participants driving ahead and with a device for recognizing an urban environment is provided. When driving in the urban environment, a full beam is prevented from being switched on. When driving in the urban environment, error messages relating to the limited view of the camera are suppressed.

A vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus includes a computer and an illumination mechanism. The computer serves as a vehicle extractor that extracts a tail lamp of a preceding vehicle, a preceding vehicle recognizer that recognizes the preceding vehicle on a basis of the extracted tail lamp, and a light-distribution controller that determines light distribution of a headlamp. The illumination mechanism switches between a low beam and a high beam on a basis of instruction issued by the light-distribution controller. The vehicle extractor determines, on a basis of an angle of view and a depth distance of a block in the image, and a cut-off line angle of the high beam, whether the block is irradiated with the high beam, and changes, on a basis of a result of the determination as to whether the block is irradiated, thresholds that determine whether the tail lamp is the tail lamp.

Provided is a specific object detection apparatus capable of detecting a specific object even when a self-vehicle is positioned at a distance from the specific object during bad weather. A specific object detection apparatus 20 includes: imaging means (an imaging unit) 21 which captures a specific object V1 including a light source 11 driven based on a PWM signal with a frequency f and a duty ratio D, the specific object V1 being captured at a frame rate of f/D fps or higher; detecting means (a detecting unit) 22a which detects a relatively bright area in an image captured by the imaging means (imaging unit) 21; calculating means (a calculating unit) 22b which calculates a lighting frequency of the relatively bright area detected by the detecting means (detecting unit) 22a; and determining means (a determining unit) 22c which determines that, when the lighting frequency calculated by the calculating means (calculating unit) 22b is a frequency set in advance, the relatively bright area detected by the detecting means (detecting unit) 22a is a specific object.

A vehicle lamp control system includes an electronic control unit having a processor and a non-transitory computer readable memory including a machine-readable instruction set. The electronic control unit is communicatively coupled to a camera configured to output image data of a vehicle environment, a vehicle lamp and a steering wheel sensor. The machine-readable instruction set causes the processor to receive the image data of the vehicle environment from the camera, determine whether an external light source is present in the vehicle environment based on the image data of the vehicle environment, determine a steering wheel angle based on an output signal of the steering wheel sensor, and generate a control signal for activating the vehicle lamp when the steering wheel angle exceeds an activation steering threshold and no external light source is detected in the vehicle environment.

Disclosed is an optical unit wherein a rotating reflector rotates about a rotation axis in one direction, while reflecting light emitted from a light source. The rotating reflector is provided with a reflecting surface such that the light reflected by the rotating reflector, while rotating, forms a desired light distribution pattern, said light having been emitted from the light source. The light source is composed of light emitting elements. The rotation axis is provided within a plane that includes an optical axis and the light source. The rotating reflector is provided with, on the periphery of the rotation axis, a blade that functions as the reflecting surface.