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On August 6, 2026, a patent application from General Motors (US 2026/0225431 A1) was published, detailing a windshield that can darken only the exact spot where a bright light source hits the driver's eyes. Instead of a bulky sun visor or a fully tinted windshield, the system uses a pixelated layer of electrochromic material that dims only the glare zone, keeping the rest of the glass clear. The technology could make traditional sun visors obsolete, offering a cleaner, more automated solution for managing sun and headlight glare.
The patent, filed by GM Global Technology Operations on February 4, 2025, describes a windshield or side window coated with an electrochromic layer divided into hundreds of independently controlled zones—essentially pixels. By applying voltage only to the zones that need to darken, the system avoids tinting the entire windshield when the sun is low. The filing even considers using pentagonal and hexagonal pixel shapes, arguing that smaller elements can change opacity faster and more precisely block a glare source.
What makes this system truly novel is the cabin-mounted camera that tracks the driver's head position and gaze direction. A controller analyzes reflections of bright objects on the cornea of the driver's eye, then calculates exactly which section of glass the driver is looking through to see the sun or an oncoming vehicle's headlights. The corresponding pixels are dimmed in real time. If multiple glare sources exist—say, the sun and a car's high beams—the system can handle them independently, creating multiple darkened patches.
A predictive mode is also included. Using route data and the vehicle's GPS position, the electronics can calculate the sun's future position relative to the car and dim the needed area before the beam ever reaches the driver's eyes. As the car turns or the driver moves their head, the darkened zones shift accordingly. The system essentially follows the driver's line of sight, ensuring continuous protection without manual adjustment.
This isn't GM's first attempt at automatic sun protection. The company previously received a patent for a system that calculates
