Patent ID: 8922388

Claim:
A lighting system for the exterior of a vehicle, comprising: a housing; a hazard sensor carried by the housing for detecting the presence of a plurality of hazards in a predetermined region on a ground surface adjacent to the vehicle; a lamp assembly carried by the housing having a light source for projecting light onto at least a portion of the region; and a controller coupled to the hazard sensor and the lamp assembly, wherein the controller is configured to: receive an indication of a vehicle user ingress or a vehicle user egress; receive an input from the hazard sensor; determine a condition on the ground surface in the predetermined region adjacent the vehicle; and actuate the lamp assembly based on receiving the indication of user ingress or egress and based on the determining step, wherein the determining step includes: when none of the plurality of hazards exist in the predetermined region, then illuminating the predetermined region according to a first brightness or a first color or both; and when one of the plurality of hazards exists in the predetermined region, then illuminating the predetermined region according to a second brightness or a second color or both.