Koito Manufacturing Co., with its North American headquarters in Farmington Hills, and Denso Corp., with its North American headquarters in Southfield, have begun collaborating on a system to improving driving safety at night.
The goal is to improve the object recognition rate of vehicle image sensors by coordinating lamps and image sensors.
Koito is contributing to the project by improving nighttime visibility with high-function, high-performance lighting technologies, such as the development of ADBs (Adaptive Driving Beams), which control the driving-beam to maintain better visibility without dazzling oncoming vehicles.
Denso has expertise in developing sensors that recognize a vehicle’s surroundings, which play the role of eyes in Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) and is working to improve the object recognition rate of image sensors in various traffic situations, including at night.
The companies will combine Koito’s strength in driving-beam photometry control technology and Denos’s strength in object recognition technology from image sensors to study the development of a system that can contribute to improving the safety of vehicles at night.
To reduce the number of nighttime pedestrian fatalities, which are approximately twice as many as during the daytime, the two companies will explore and establish specific development themes, such as the feasibility of lighting that enables image sensors to recognize pedestrians more quickly.
“We believe that the collaboration with Denso, a top supplier of automotive components, and Koito, a leading company on lighting technology, will make a significant contribution to the realization of next-generation mobility,” says Takayuki Katsuda, senior managing corporate officer in charge of the engineering division at Koito.
Koito will continue to develop and supply products that contribute to safety and security in the next-generation mobility society toward the achievement of the “Koito Vision: Lighting the Way for Our Sustainable Future.”
“The collaboration with Koito, which has been improving the performance of lamps and contributing to the safety of vehicles around the world for many years, is of great significance to Denso’s mobility electronics business,” says Hiroshi Kondo, general manager in charge of the mobility electronics business group at Denso.
“By partnering with Koito, a lighting professional, Denso will continue to make strong efforts towards achieving its goal of zero fatalities in traffic accidents.”
