Light obstruction sensor

A system comprising:

• a vehicle comprising a headlight assembly, the headlight assembly comprising a light source, a light obstruction sensor, a body portion, and a surface portion, the light source and the light obstruction sensor being disposed in the body portion;
• a memory comprising computer readable instructions;
• and
• a processing device for executing the computer readable instructions for performing a method comprising:
• receiving, by the light obstruction sensor, light being emitted by the light source, a light level being associated with the light received by the light obstruction sensor;
• receiving, by a reference light obstruction sensor, the light being emitted by the light source, a reference light level being associated with the light received by the reference light obstruction sensor;
• determining whether an object is on the surface portion of the light assembly by:
• determining whether the light level exceeds a threshold;
• and
• responsive to determining that the light level exceeds the threshold, determining that the light being emitted by the light source is at least partially impaired by the object on the surface portion of the light assembly;
• and
• validating the determination that the light source is at least partially impaired by the object to confirm whether the light source is at least partially impaired by the object on the surface portion of the light assembly by comparing the light level to the reference light level.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processing device to cause the processing device to perform a method comprising:
• receiving, by a light obstruction sensor, light being emitted by a light source, a light level being associated with the light received by the light obstruction sensor, and the light source and the light obstruction sensor being disposed in a light assembly of a vehicle, the light assembly comprising a body portion and a surface portion, the light source and the light obstruction sensor being disposed in the body portion;
• receiving, by a reference light obstruction sensor, the light being emitted by the light source, a reference light level being associated with the light received by the reference light obstruction sensor, wherein the reference light obstruction sensor is disposed in the vehicle other than in the light assembly;
• determining, by the processing device, whether an object is on the surface portion of the light assembly by:
• determining, by the processing device, whether the light level exceeds a first threshold;
• and
• responsive to determining that the light level exceeds the first threshold, determining that the light being emitted by the light source is at least partially impaired by the object on the surface portion of the light assembly;
• and
• validating, by the processing device, the determination that the light source is at least partially impaired by the object to confirm whether the light source is at least partially impaired by the object on the surface portion of the light assembly by comparing the light level to the reference light level.