Vehicle lighting device for lane change indication and vehicle lighting device with image projection on road surface

A vehicle lighting device comprising:

• an illumination unit that draws an image on a road surface around a vehicle by illuminating the road surface with light;
• a turn signal unit that causes a turn signal lamp to flash;
• and
• a controller configured to control the illumination unit, wherein
• when the vehicle changes a lane from a first lane to a second lane adjacent to the first lane, the controller causes the turn signal lamp to flash on a lane change side, and causes the illumination unit to draw a lane change image for notifying surroundings of a behavior of the vehicle, and
• the controller changes a configuration of the lane change image according to at least one of a presence and a position of a subsequent vehicle traveling rearward of the vehicle and along the second lane, wherein the controller estimates a position of the subsequent vehicle at the time of completion of the lane change, and stepwise shortens a cycle of blinking of the lane change image and stepwise increases a size of the lane change image as a distance between the vehicle and the estimated position becomes closer.

A vehicle lighting device comprising:

• an illumination unit that draws an image on a road surface around a vehicle by illuminating the road surface with light;
• a turn signal unit that causes a turn signal lamp to flash;
• and
• a controller configured to control the illumination unit, wherein
• when the vehicle changes a lane from a first lane to a second lane adjacent to the first lane, the controller causes the turn signal lamp to flash on a lane change side, and causes the illumination unit to draw a lane change image for notifying surroundings of a behavior of the vehicle, and
• the controller changes a configuration of the lane change image according to at least one of a presence and a position of a subsequent vehicle traveling rearward of the vehicle and along the second lane, wherein
• the lane change image includes a front-side image illuminated at a position where a driver of the vehicle can visually recognize directly, and a rear-side image illuminated at a side of a rear portion of the vehicle, and
• when the subsequent vehicle is positioned in an illumination area of the rear-side image, the controller stops the drawing of the rear-side image while causing the front-side image to be drawn in a configuration different from the configuration in which the subsequent vehicle is not positioned in the illumination area of the rear-side image.