This week Apple's Electric Car project known as Project Titan was in the news. macReports posted a report about Apple having increased their number of test drivers for its possible future vehicles. The latest California DMV Autonomous Vehicles Program statistics show that Apple slightly increased the number of test drivers from 196 to 201 as the chart below proves out.

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Beyond our archive having 149 patent reports on record for Project Titan to date, today we're posting report 150 with another patent relating to an advanced headlight system.

Cornering Light Capabilities

Apple states in their patent filing that in order to improve visibility in other areas surrounding the vehicle such as on the outboard sides of the vehicle, a vehicle may also be provided with cornering light capabilities.

A headlight may include a housing, a first light source for the high-beam mode and the low-beam mode within the housing, and a second light source for cornering light within the housing. The first light source may be backed by a first reflector and may provide light through a projection lens onto the exterior of the vehicle.

A shutter (e.g., actuated by a solenoid) may provide a cutoff pattern when in a first position to block a portion of the light emitted from the first light source for the low-beam mode and may be folded down (e.g., removed from the optical path of the portion of light emitted by the first light source) to a second position for the high­ beam mode.

The second light source may be backed by a second reflector and may provide light through the projection lens onto the exterior of the vehicle. The position of the second light source within the headlight may allow the light emitted from the second light source to be provided as cornering light output from the side of the projection lens.

The shutter may also provide a cutoff pattern that defines the illumination pattern of the cornering light. Configured in this manner, the headlight provides a compact headlight having high-beam, low-beam, and cornering light functionalities.

To enhance the illumination of the first light source in the high-beam mode (e.g., to provide an enhanced illumination hot spot), the headlight may include additional light sources placed along the peripheral portion of the projection lens. The light emitted by the first and second light sources may pass through a central portion of the projection lens (defining the lens aperture for the first and second light sources).

If desired, the illumination of the first light source in the high-beam mode may be enhanced by a light source configured to emit light toward a reflector at a rear side of the headlight. The reflected light may pass through the peripheral portion of the projection lens.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a top view of a portion of an illustrative vehicle. In the example of FIG. 1, vehicle #10 is the type of vehicle that may carry passengers (e.g., an automobile, truck, or other automotive vehicle). It may be driven manually or autonomously. 

To provide visible light illumination for objects #28 on the (outboard) sides of the vehicle, headlights #16 may be provided with cornering light illumination such as illumination #22 in FIG. 1.

By shining headlights on external surfaces on the outboard sides of the vehicle,  such as object #28 and other roadways to the side of the vehicle, occupants of the vehicle may view external surfaces even in dim ambient lighting conditions (e.g., at night).

If desired, cornering light illumination #22 may be selectively (conditionally) provided in dim ambient lighting conditions such as when vehicle is turning or moving off of a given roadway at night, or changing to a difference lane on a given roadway at night, or in other scenarios.

Apple's patent FIG. 5 below is a perspective view of a portion of an illustrative headlight configured to provide high-beam light, low-beam light, and cornering light.

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For more details, review Apple's patent application number WO2023043628 filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization here.  The patent was published on Thursday. In early January 2023 Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple Invents a Smart Headlights system for Semi-Autonomous and Robotic Vehicles that automatically adjust to road conditions & more." It would appear that Apple is putting a lot of focus on designing an advanced headlight system that provides multifaceted technologies and features.

Apple Inventors

• Clarisse Mazuir: Lighting and sensors lead at Apple SPG
• Kurt Stiehl: Product Design Director - Special Projects
• Chris Child: Product Design Engineer / Autonomous Systems
• Xiaofeng Tang: Product Design Engineer / Optical Engineer