Patent ID: 7860627

Claim:
An automatic optical axis direction adjusting apparatus for adjusting optical axes of one set of right and left headlights of a vehicle, comprising: road data output means including a position detecting sensor for detecting a position of the vehicle and a map database for storing therein electronic map information, for referring to the map database based upon a detected position of the vehicle, and for outputting road data, the road data indicating a shape of a road which forms a travel route of the vehicle; first swivel means for adjusting an optical axis direction of a main light corresponding to one of the right and the left headlights; second swivel means for adjusting an optical axis direction of a sub-light corresponding to the other of the right and the left headlights; control means for controlling the first swivel means and the second swivel means independently of each other, characterized in that the control means performs a one-eye navigation-cooperated control operation which adjusts only the optical axis direction of the main light to be coincident with a road direction calculated based upon the road data; vehicle speed detecting means for detecting a speed of the vehicle; and updating means for processing the electronic map information stored in the map database so as to improve positional precision of the electronic map information, wherein: the control means calculates a predicted vehicle position after a predetermined time elapses based upon the vehicle speed inputted from the vehicle speed detecting means and the road data inputted from the road data output means; the control means sets a direction for expecting the predicted vehicle position as the road direction; the control means controls the first and the second swivel means in a similar manner to further perform a two-eye navigation-cooperated control operation which adjusts both optical axes of the main light and the sub-light to be coincident with a road direction calculated based upon the road data; the control means switches a control operation between the two-eye navigation-cooperated control operation and the one-eye navigation-cooperated control operation; and the control means switches the control operation between the one-eye navigation-cooperated control operation and the two-eye navigation-cooperated control operation to execute the switched navigation-cooperated control operation by checking whether the road data outputted from the road data output means corresponds to a data produced based upon the electronic map information, the positional precision of which is improved by the updating means.