Mercedes-Benz drivers could find their late night journeys much safer in the future as the firm has developed a new system which adapts a car’s headlamps to the vehicles around them.

The innovative system means that drivers will have greater visibility of the road around them, depending on how busy the roads are. With virtually all cars simply allowing motorists to switch between dipped and main beam lights, this system will adapt the headlight range to the distance of vehicle ahead or to oncoming traffic.

The new Mercedes-Benz technology adjusts the light yield to certain traffic situations, potentially increasing the range of a dipped beam from around 65 metres to as much as 300 metres. Also, if vehicles are moving towards the car, they will be protected from dazzling lights as the system adjusts the headlamps so the light falls in front of them.

Practical tests of the technology found that pedestrians standing by the roadside were recognised at a distance of 260 metres, which is 150 metres earlier than when they can be seen through conventional dipped beam lighting.