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Hella's adaptive high-beam lighting assistant, which uses a camera to detect vehicles in front and changes the shape of the lighting beams to avoid dazzling them, gets its first commercial application on the new Mercedes E Class.

The system, available as an option, uses a camera on the windscreen to detect oncoming vehicles or vehicles in front. That sends a signal that varies the lighting "cone" so that the main beam intensity falls short of the other vehicle.

The camera can see objects up to 800m in front and the system comes in play at speeds of 35 miles per hour. The range of the low beam can also be extended from 65m to 300m and, if the road is clear, it switches gently to high beam. The driver no longer needs to switch manually between high and low beam in night driving.

Hella says that tests showed the system was good for detecting pedestrians at the side of the road as well, with groups seen at 260m instead of the 110m of a conventional low beam light.

Mercedes E Class cars have had other lighting innovations in the past through the work with Hella. Earlier systems adjusted lighting intensity according to driving conditions.