Every car is designed to be at its best in the daytime, but what about one that's made for the night? A new startup called DarkSky International says its new concept vehicle, called the DarkSky One, is the very first car designed for the night. But there's more to this vehicle than a shadowy headline. Nor is it Batman's new ride. In fact, it doesn't yet exist beyond ideas and some nice-looking renderings.
But it's a very good idea. One that goes beyond the car to embrace a concept that seems weird at first, but makes all kinds of sense once you put the pieces together. And it could address many of the frustrations we've all had when driving a car at night.
"Darkness Makes You See Better"
Speaking to CarBuzz at the 2026 Detroit Auto Show, DarkSky Executive Creative Director Peter Bray explained the DarkSky One's mission. It's all about controlling light, not just how you use it to see in the dark, but how the dark can be better utilized to help you see better. It's also aimed at minimizing light pollution, and none of this is accomplished by headlights alone.
"This isn’t just a conversation as simple as the lights on a car. What’s the whole new design system? It’s not just the lights, it’s the whole car design that optimizes viewability in darkness for the occupant, and minimizes the impact of the car on the environment."
-Peter Bray, executive creative director
That said, the concept does feature a snazzy set of lights called All Beam Adaptive Driving Light technology. This is a front light that adjusts its brightness relative to the things that are ahead of you. It also adapts to curves, so the car throws light only where you need it.
"The headlights are designed so that, as you get closer to an object, it’s not just going from a high beam to a low beam, it’s actually adjusting the whole way," said Bray. "That’s such an obvious thing for car design, yet right now, I couldn’t name one car manufacturer that doesn’t have a simple detection going from high beam to low. It should be graduated."
Instead of glaring side lighting, the DarkSky One has control over its other lamps. Special anti-reflective coatings, optical control, and other tech let you see the landscape outside your car while letting those outside it see you. It's not a harsh light either, but warmer tones that are easier on the eyes.
While light helps you see, too much light makes things much worse. That's the other aspect of DarkSky One's mission. The car's shape, the angle of the glass, even the paint are all designed to reduce unwanted light. The matte black paint has a special pattern DarkSky says absorbs stray light and suppresses glare. That helps your eyes stay adapted to the dark, instead of constantly adjusting to bright lights. As DarkSky CEO and Executive Direector Ruskin Hartley explains, keeping eyes adjusted to the dark is critical for seeing things otherwise hidden by light.
"If I take a flashlight and shine it at your eyes, you’re not going to be able to see anyone behind it because that glare, that direct light in your eyes, is causing your pupils to restrict, which means you cannot see anymore," said Hartley. "We need to flip that. We need to light what we need to see in the amount we need to see it better, but we don’t need to more."
In addition to all this, the concept car uses intelligent LiDAR tech. The sensor uses light outside the visible spectrum to "see" what is around you. It will adjust to the environment, but DarkSky also points out that all of this helps in the daytime, too.
Read the full article on CarBuzz
This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.
