Patent ID: 7131754

Claim:
An automatic headlamp control system for controlling the beam illumination state of headlamps of a vehicle, said automatic headlamp control system comprising: a first headlamp located at a front driver side of the vehicle and a second headlamp located at an opposing front passenger side of the vehicle, each of said first and second headlamps comprising a high beam lighting element for providing high beam illumination in a high beam state and a lower beam lighting element for providing lower beam illumination in a lower beam state; an image sensor having a field of view forwardly of the vehicle, said image sensor capturing image data of a scene forwardly of the vehicle; a control operable to process said image data to determine if a light source within the scene is indicative of a headlamp of an approaching vehicle or a taillight of a leading vehicle; said control being operable to adjust the beam illumination state of said first headlamp between its high beam state and its lower beam state independent of adjustment of said second headlamp between its high beam state and its lower beam state; and said control adjusting said first headlamp to its lower beam state in response to a determination that a detected light source in the captured image is indicative of a headlamp of an approaching vehicle in the forward field of view, said control adjusting or maintaining the beam illumination state of said second headlamp independent of the adjustment of said first headlamp in response to the determination.