'Driving Just Got Intelligent'--Light Painting With A Hyundai Car Using LEDs Attached To The Wheels

Light painting is a photographic technique where, well, you paint with light. It generally means waving a light source about while taking pictures with a long exposure.

In this visually stunning video that light source just so happens to be a car (a Hyundai 2015 3.8L V6 Genesis) whizzing around a race track, with red LED lights attached to the wheels.

As such, it looks particularly striking and futuristic as it races along, streaming light trails behind it like, yep I'm going to say it, a vehicle from Tron.

It kind of makes you want to put some LEDs on your own car to emulate the cutting edge appeal. Even if that car is a rusting old piece of junk and you never really go above 50mph.

The LEDs on this car aren't entirely decorative though. They're placed on the Hyundai Genesis to showcase its HTRAC intelligent power distribution system, which is usually invisible to the human eye.

The LEDs, placed on the wheels, light up as they spin around—the changing light intensity reveals the dynamic driving power distribution. Along with making the car look extra awesome for night driving.

The film ‘HTRAC – Control the Light’ portrays how Hyundai Motor’s HTRAC actively adjusts the driving power distribution on all 4 wheels to achieve optimal balance on any kind of road conditions, including a wet surface, bumpy or curvy roads.

For a dramatic and captivating display of this technology, LED lights were attached on each wheel to capture the changing power distribution between the front and back wheels.

Thanks to HTRAC, you won’t need to negotiate with the road conditions. You own the road.

Here's some more info on exactly what HTRAC is:

HTRAC is an intelligent all-wheel drive power management system made by Hyundai, which dynamically distributes power to each wheel in order to optimise traction and safety. It is currently available exclusively on the 2015 3.8L V6 Genesis, shown in this video. HTRAC distributes power according to road surface traction, but also according to drive mode. Two drive modes exist, Normal and Sport. Normal mode distributes power to optimise torque traction, in order to achieve the best traction possible on any given road surface, including extreme snowy conditions. Sport mode is more about fun and performance, allocating all or most of the power to the rear wheels.

Unlike the mechanical four-wheel-drive systems already introduced by countless other brands, HTRAC variably controls the braking power of the left and right wheels. It can change the amount of power allowed when driving on ice or other road conditions, as well as the speed of the car, for a next-generation four-wheel-drive system that delivers stable driving on slippery roads and when cornering.