Parked Vehicle Light Path Illumination for Low-Lit Parking Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Many parking facilities lack adequate lighting, leading to increased risk of criminal activities and personal injuries due to hazards or obstacles being obscured.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses the light of a parked vehicle to illuminate a path, determined by a processor that uses modules for location determination, path determination, safety evaluation, and communication to cause the appropriate vehicle lights to illuminate the path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If parking facilities have no lighting or dim lighting, then energy consumption is reduced and cost is lowered, but safety is compromised and hazards become obscured
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines the path from the individual's location to the vehicle location in advance and activates lighting along this path before the individual needs to traverse it. The location determination module and path determination module pre-calculate the optimal route, and the lighting system is activated along this predetermined path, ensuring safety without illuminating the entire parking facility.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of providing uniform lighting throughout the parking facility, the system applies lighting locally only to the specific path from the individual's location to the vehicle location. The lighting control module activates lights at specific locations along the determined path, creating localized illumination zones that provide safety where needed while leaving other areas dark to conserve energy.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the entire parking facility is illuminated, then safety is improved and all paths are visible, but energy consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements selective illumination by activating lighting only along the specific path from the individual's location to the vehicle location. The lighting control module determines which lights to activate based on the calculated path, ensuring that energy is consumed only in the areas where individuals actually need to travel, rather than illuminating the entire parking facility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-determines the optimal path using the path determination module before activating lighting. By calculating the route in advance based on location data from the location determination module, the system can precisely control which lights to activate, avoiding energy waste in areas that don't require illumination.
3Illumination intensity
If vehicle lights are activated to illuminate paths, then visibility is improved, but the vehicle's ability to detect obstacles during autonomous operation may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the lighting function from the obstacle detection function. Vehicle lights are activated specifically to illuminate paths for other individuals, while separate sensors continue to operate independently for obstacle detection during autonomous operation. This segmentation allows both functions to perform their respective roles without interfering with each other.
Solution Approach 2:
The lighting control module acts as an intermediary that coordinates between path illumination needs and obstacle detection requirements. It manages the activation of vehicle lights based on path determination while ensuring that obstacle detection sensors maintain their operational independence, thus mediating between the competing requirements of visibility and detection reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for using a light of a parked vehicle to illuminate a path can include a processor and a memory. The memory can store a location determination module, a path determination module, a safety evaluation module, and a communications module. The location determination module can determine a location of an individual and a location of a vehicle associated with the individual. The path determination module can determine one or more paths from the location of the individual to the location of the vehicle. The safety evaluation module can determine a path, of the one or more paths, based at least in part on a measurement of a safety criterion. The communications module can cause a light of a parked vehicle to illuminate the path. The parked vehicle can be different from the vehicle.