At the last GTB session in Dresden late last year, front lighting working group chairman Rainer Neumann’s proposal was adopted to organise a field test in spring 2012 to evaluate the performance and safety contribution of headlamp automatic levelling systems.
The first evaluation covering real road conditions will be done at the DEKRA test track in Klettwitz, close to Dresden, on 21 March. The next morning, 22 March, a debriefing will be held.
30 different vehicles with Halogen, Xenon, LED, and HIR light sources will be used. There will be around 50 participants of all ages and both sexes who will rate the discomfort glare based on the de Boer rating system.
Vehicles with different light sources and randomly distributed loading conditions will pass a 2Km straight and level road with constant speed of 80 km/h. The subjects will rate each individual vehicle on the subjective glare feeling it produces.
All vehicles with Xenon or LED headlamps will have an automatic levelling system that can be switched off and before the drive and the vehicles will be prepared by aiming the lamps and cleaning the lenses before the drive.
There will be 16 vehicles, each with 2 subjects in front. The cars will be placed on the road with a distance of 35 to 40 metres. Observers will be in the front seats. These 16 vehicles will have low beam on during the test with manual levelling at 0 (baseline) position.
In the first car 2 subjects from TU Darmstadt will sit and operate two luxmeters: one inside the car in eye height, and one outside on the windscreen.
Seats will be adjusted to provide a subject eye height of 1.2 metres.
After each test run, there will be a 2-minute wait to allow subjects’ eyes to re-adapt following glare exposure. All subjects—32 for each run—will have questionnaires prepared by TU Darmstadt to fill out according to the de Boer scale the rating. The results will be available 3-4 weeks after the test.
This is a very important test to begin to quantify the actual effects of headlamp auto levelling on glare in real-world conditions. Many lighting experts will be present from car makers and lighting suppliers Tier 1&2.
The event is open only to GTB members and GRE governmental experts; official invitations are being sent. Rainer Neumann will serve as commander and moderator.
