NIO teaches cars to draw on asphalt with headlights

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer NIO has introduced an innovative feature in its crossovers that allows projecting any owner-drawn text and images onto asphalt or walls using light projectors.

Videos demonstrating the technology have appeared online: HDPL headlights project light images directly onto the road surface.

The image creation process begins with a virtual whiteboard on the car's central screen. The user draws text or an image with their finger, after which the system converts it into a light animation.

HDPL digital headlights project the result, with the image appearing gradually, precisely following the driver's hand movements. This technology also allows highlighting the path of motion and displaying additional light cues on the road.

To ensure image quality, engineers spent four to five months developing the solution. They created an AI line-smoothing algorithm with five adjustment levels to eliminate hand tremor while preserving the author's unique handwriting style.

The feature is available in specific trims of the NIO ES8 and ES9 models. The novelty's popularity is confirmed by statistics: within the first 20 days, users created over 200,000 different drawings and texts.