Vehicle camera vision system and method

A vehicle headlight system comprising:

• a camera configured to respond to capture signals by capturing images of a scene in a travel path of the vehicle;
• first and second headlights comprising respective first and second LED arrays;
• first and second headlight optics arranged with respect to the first and second LED arrays to project first and second light structures respectively into the travel path to illuminate an object in the scene so that the captured images include images of the object in which the first and second light structures are reflected;
• and
• a system controller configured to alternate projection of the first light structure by the first headlight with projection of the second light structure by the second headlight so that the first and second light structures are switched at a rate greater than about 50 Hz.

A method comprising:

• configuring a first vehicle headlight to project a first light structure into a travel path of a vehicle to illuminate a scene in the travel path;
• configuring a second vehicle headlight to project a second light structure into a travel path of the vehicle to illuminate the scene;
• disposing a camera in the vehicle between the first and second headlights so the camera can capture images of the scene;
• controlling the first and second vehicle headlights to alternately project the first and second light structures into the travel path;
• controlling the camera to capture at least one first image of an object in the scene while the first headlight is projecting the first light structure;
• and
• controlling the camera to capture at least one second image of the object while the second headlight is projecting the second light structure.