Private & Exclusive / SME
Hyundai Motor recently launched the IONIQ 6, the second model in its IONIQ brand dedicated to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs).
Featuring an aerodynamic profile for outstanding efficiency, the Electrified Streamliner innovatively uses sustainable materials to reflect the values of electric vehicle customers.
The IONIQ 6 is also equipped with an array of advanced technologies and distinctive spaces, while offering expanded scope to redefine the boundaries of electric mobility.
A first for a European Hyundai model, the IONIQ 6 features the latest Intelligent Front Lighting System (IFS) with Matrix Beam LED headlights, which change depending on road conditions. IFS features an automatic function, which partially turns off the high beam lights that disable other drivers when a vehicle is detected in front or on the opposite side of the road. This supports safe driving at night, as the high beam does not have to be manually adjusted to avoid disturbing other drivers.
The evolution of the high beam assist
IFS can be seen as an advanced form of the HBA (High Beam Assist) active safety feature, which also serves to avoid blindness to other drivers at night. Standard HBA works by temporarily disabling the high beams as soon as it detects a vehicle ahead or approaching in an opposite lane. But because the high beams are turned off completely, it results in a temporary decrease in the driver’s visibility, even if only for a few seconds.
On the other hand, IFS successfully addresses this problem. Like the HBA system, it maintains the high beam permanently. Once it detects the vehicle ahead, it only turns off parts of the high beam lights that might disrupt other drivers’ vision. Therefore, IFS means that the maximum visibility of the IONIQ 6 driver is still present at any given time.
An efficient innovation in headlight technology
High beams are often considered a double-edged sword, while they guarantee visibility to the driver using them, the extra visibility often comes at the sacrifice of the driver of the oncoming vehicle or the vehicle ahead, who may be blinded by a powerful stream of light.
Despite this, the IFS comes with partial light control that prevents such dazzling effects from occurring, ensuring maximum visibility without disturbing other drivers.
And IFS technology is applied to the high beam unit in each of IONIQ’s 6 featured Parametric Pixel lamps. Each high beam unit also contains a Matrix Beam LED, which aligns 8 IFS segments per lamp in succession, so it can provide high, focused visibility. Thanks to this diversification of light sources, IFS can precisely control the direction and intensity of light beams.
The light waves generated by the Matrix Beam LED are exposed through two special lenses that control the beam patterns. An optical lens placed directly in front of the light source creates rectangular matrix beam patterns.
These patterns then pass through the free-form lens, which highlights the road ahead of the vehicle.
Securing everyone’s vision
In general, IFS works in three steps. First, the front camera at the top of the IONIQ 6’s windshield detects the location of vehicles ahead and sends the position and angle information to the headlamp control module. Second, the Headlight Control Module calculates a “disturbance zone” in which other drivers will be less visible and assigns corresponding LEDs among the 16 headlight IFS segments.
Third and last, the high beam unit turns off the corresponding segments defined by the headlamp control module, leaving the rest of them on. The result is a stable and clear view of the IONIQ 6 driver, while at the same time preventing the dazzling effect of high beams on other road users.
Premium IONIQ pixels
Like its predecessor, Hyundai’s award-winning IONIQ 5, the IONIQ 6 implements the Hyundai Look design strategy that gives each model a unique appearance, like chess pieces. It incorporates more than 700 pixels of parametric detail in numerous places, such as the headlamps, integrated taillights, front underbody sensors, air vent trim and center console indicator, to reinforce the brand identity throughout the vehicle. And the Parametric Pixel is implemented in every IONIQ model, bridging the digital and analog eras to connect generations to an all-electric future.
