GM Files Patent for Adaptive Tinted Windshield

General Motors filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 4, 2025, for an adaptive vehicle window shading system, published as US 2026/0225431 A1 on August 6, 2026. The invention was developed by two Israeli engineers, Tzvi Philipp and Igal Kotzer. The system employs electrochromic technology, dividing vehicle windows into multiple independently controllable pixel zones. By applying an electric current through conductive coatings, specific pixels can darken while maintaining visibility. Smaller pixels offer faster response times and support various shapes. The system integrates a driver-facing camera to track the driver’s gaze, head position, and orientation, and uses reflections from the eye’s surface to identify bright light sources such as the sun or oncoming headlights. Based on this data, the controller determines the location of these bright objects within the driver’s field of view, maps them to corresponding window pixels, and applies voltage to darken those areas. Multiple bright objects can be detected and managed simultaneously. During vehicle operation, the system continuously adjusts pixel brightness in real time according to changes in the driver’s gaze or head position, vehicle movement, and light source locations. In an alternative implementation, GPS data is used to calculate the sun’s position relative to the vehicle, enabling the system to proactively darken the appropriate window areas in advance.