Gentex Corporation, a supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors to the worldwide automotive industry, today announced that the Company's SmartBeam high-beam headlamp assist technology will be offered starting this fall on the BMW 5 Series, 6 Series and 7 Series models. This is the first time any type of high-beam headlamp assist system has ever been offered by a European automobile manufacturer or in markets outside of North America.

Gentex is best known for its automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, which automatically darken to reduce glare from the headlamps of vehicles approaching from the rear. The brighter the glare, the darker the mirrors become, making nighttime driving safer. Gentex mirrors often come integrated with additional electronic features, such as SmartBeam. SmartBeam uses a miniature camera-on-a-chip to maximize forward lighting by automatically turning on the vehicle's high beams according to surrounding traffic conditions. If it's dark enough and no other traffic is present, SmartBeam will automatically turn on your high beams. The system returns the headlamps to their low-beam intensity when detecting either the headlamps or taillamps of other vehicles.

SmartBeam, which BMW calls "High-Beam Assist", will be introduced on the BMW 5, 6 and 7 Series in the fall in Europe and other selected regions, and will be offered in conjunction with Xenon headlamps.

SmartBeam debuted in the North American market in the 2005 model year. In April 2005, Gentex won an Automotive News PACE (Premier Automotive Suppliers' Contribution to Excellence) Award, in recognition of the SmartBeam invention. The PACE Awards were started 11 years ago to recognize premier automotive suppliers for their contributions to innovation, technological advancement and business performance. In addition, SmartBeam was also recognized as one of Popular Science magazine's "Best of What's New" Technologies in November 2004.