Posted on 02/19/2024 8:56:17 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Imagine if you could drive at night with your high beams on all the time, bathing the road ahead in bright light but without ever blinding other drivers.
In Europe and Asia, many cars offer adaptive driving beam headlights that can do this. ADB is a lighting technology that has been available for many years in other parts of the world including Europe, China and Canada, but not in the United States.
It can actually shape the light coming from headlights rather than scattering it all over the road. If there’s a car coming in the other direction, or one driving ahead in the same lane, the light stays precisely away from that vehicle. The rest of the road is still covered in bright light with just a pocket of dimmer light around the other vehicles. This way a deer, pedestrian or bicyclist by the side of the road can still be seen clearly while other drivers sharing the road can see, too.
In America, the closest we can get to that today are automatic high beams, a feature available on many new cars that automatically flicks off the high beams if another vehicle is detected ahead. But that still means driving much — or most — of the time using only low beam headlights that don’t reach very far. That can be dangerous.
U.S. auto safety regulations enacted in 2022 were supposed to finally allow ADB headlight, something for which the auto industry and safety groups had long been asking for. But, according to automakers and safety advocates, the new rules make it difficult for automakers to add the feature. That means it will probably be years before ADB headlights are widely available in the US.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
“We should be focused on what we can do to improve visibility,” said Matt Brumbelow, a senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “We know that low visibility causes crashes and what ADB does is maximize visibility, seeing light, while still preventing glare.”
The US regulations also limit the amount of light the headlights could put out while also not allowing them to reduce lighting as much they could in other situations, said Brumbelow.
Yet another ‘First World Problem’ that’ll need a lot of tax dollars thrown at it to fix. ;)
In Bulgaria, it used to be illegal to drive with your headlights on - dimmers only- the reason was to do with maintaining night vision.
I can no longer drive at night due to such brilliant headlights. If I have to go out for something after dark I take the back roads.
I just drive with my NODs at night now....
LED headlights have an insurmountable problem in that the light-emitting surface ia much too large to be focused by any lens. This is why "low beams" still blind you.
I lived in Germany for 19 yrs. Even some older cars had a mechanical system you could operate by hand with a lever to change the angle of your lights. Newer models, of course, had more convenient electronic methods. Today’s big trucks (Ford 150’s, etc.) are jacked up so high their low beams are right in your face. I have to pull the sun visor down to help block their lights as it does no good to flash your high beams at the driver. It is a problem that creates unsafe driving situations..
Gawd how I hate automatic high beams.
They never, Never, NEVER, revert to low beams in time to stop from blinding me on oncoming vehicles.
And as a frequent night-time pedestrian, I hate the Euro-style ADB systems too. Absolutely blinding if you’re on a sidewalk. Yes, it lets the vehicle driver see you sooner, but if I’m walking on a shoulder or sidewalk I’m not worried about the vehicle hitting me in the first place*, so please don’t f***ing blind me so you can feel better.
*Unless they’re intoxicated, in which case I don’t think the damn headlights are making much of a difference anyway...
My cataracts are pretty bad, having them checked again next month. I get pretty halos from headlights at night but it’s no big deal. If the doc wants to do them I’m good with that too, I’ll probably like the result.
See, now that’s why I carry a robot from the future in all of my cars.
The only hard part was finding clothing that fit, but the robot stuck his fist through the alien shape-shifter from X-Files.
Now the shape-shifter is mad about other aliens, or something.
Use LIDAR with night-vision capabilities to produce a virtual image on the windshield in low-light or foggy conditions.
-PJ
1. People drive 100% of the time with their brights on (city driving, even in residential areas).
2. People modify their lighting. I saw a truck last night with red, blue, and extremely bright yellow lights on the front and no lights on the back.
3. Some cars are designed with an option to have running lights on in the front and none in the back. I often see this on the freeway at night. Why would that ever be an option? What setting produces that?
4. "Low Beams" are so bright they will blind you in the daylight.
“Even some older cars had a mechanical system you could operate by hand with a lever to change the angle of your lights.”
As a kid my Dad LOVED Volkswagon - he’s had 17 of them through the years. I still have his 2001 Golf which is my ‘summer car.’
I remember he and Grandpa constantly fiddling with the headlights on those cars. ;)
My 2021 Ford F-150 has the feature where she turns on lights as needed and dims them when another car approaches. She does it with plenty of time to not blind any oncoming drivers.
I like the feature. No one has flipped me off...yet! :)
I like driving with headlights off, out on the desert during a full moon. Yes, I will turn them on if there’s anyone coming the other way.
Yes. All this BS, and we wonder why we can’t buy an affordable new car.
Too stupid to drive and look before you change lanes? Don’t worry, we will mandate some software and subsystem to look for you.
Too stupid to keep your eyes on the road so you don’t cross the centerline or run off the road? Don’t worry, we will mandate some software and subsystem to keep an eye on those for you while you look at your cell phone.
Too stupid to keep your eyes on the cars in front of you so you don’t rear end someone while you are looking at your cell phone? Don’t worry, we will mandate some software and subsystem to keep an eye on the car in front of you, and will not only notify you and brake your car for you.
The cow-like, slavish stupidity of people who can’t get in a car and drive, keeping their eyes on the road and traffic around them gives POS government bureaucrats the license to get government involved and “protect” us.
I can’t stand this anymore.
You can’t possibly expect people to put down their phones when they drive! ;)
You forgot the ‘hands-free’ driving feature. WTF is THAT for?
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