Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 290 posts

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#111

Post by davisoneee »

voltagex_ wrote: post #102
SuperQue wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fix is to make it so you aren't left stranded in life without a car. Car dependency is just as bad a disease as any. Cars give you the freedom to go anywhere, but take away the freedom to do anything without them.

Hi. I'm a wheelchair user. It's only reasonably recently that the buses here had a restraint system that can lock my chair in place added, before that I needed to hold on to a bar next to me, which destroyed my shoulders. Uber decimated the taxi industry, the pandemic finished them off, and now taxis need to be sent from one town over, and those drivers don't accept my government subsidy card. At my fittest, I could…

You are a wheelchair user, yes, but you don't really address the parent. The parent is saying that we should make society more accomodating, which you acknowledge with mention of restraint systems on public transport. I take it that's what they're asking, so you don't "need" a car, but have viable options everywhere.

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#112

Post by Schroedingersat »

voltagex_ wrote: post #102
SuperQue wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fix is to make it so you aren't left stranded in life without a car. Car dependency is just as bad a disease as any. Cars give you the freedom to go anywhere, but take away the freedom to do anything without them.

Hi. I'm a wheelchair user. It's only reasonably recently that the buses here had a restraint system that can lock my chair in place added, before that I needed to hold on to a bar next to me, which destroyed my shoulders. Uber decimated the taxi industry, the pandemic finished them off, and now taxis need to be sent from one town over, and those drivers don't accept my government subsidy card. At my fittest, I could…

Sounds like well designed transit and taxis would serve you to some extent. As would microcars or an electric third wheel.

None of these things prevent you from having a car, and driving in areas that prioritise them is safer, faster, and more pleasant for the people that need cars.

Car dependency does eliminate transport for all of the people with disabities that prevent them from driving though.

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#113

Post by Schroedingersat »

bb88 wrote: post #32
prng2021 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes drunk driving is a terrible problem but beta testing software on the open road is not the only option available. It's nothing but irresponsible. Here's one of many: use sensors and AI in the car to detect a drunk person behind the wheel. This is HN so I'm sure readers could spend 10 seconds and think of numerous ways this could be accomplished and many otherideas about what could be done when a drunk driver is de…

You may find it interesting the NHTSA is pushing for breathalizers in cars starting in 2026. Personally I'm more in favor of smart road like technologies where a highway has a mechanical or physical properties to assist self-driving vehicles stay in line with the road. Mostly because a 100% software solution will likely not work, particularly in the midwest and great lakes states during the wintertime. It need not be…

It's a train. You're inventing trains but much worse and not available to the poor.

Just build a train.

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#114

Post by dominotw »

alkonaut wrote: post #107
throwaway019254 wrote: post #13

Can anybody tell me why all my US cars have enormous side-mirror blind spot? And my European cars have none? Are European cars using curved mirrors to prevent this? Edit: I just googled it. That’s exactly what’s happening - EU side mirrors are curved to prevent blind spots.

Luckily most new cars from the last 5-10 years should have blind spot warnings (even as standard on premium cars) so should be a problem that's at least slowly being solved.

They tell you to not rely on it in their manual. So you still have to check manually.

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#115

Post by pfdietz »

garaetjjte wrote: post #26
throwaway019254 wrote: post #13

Can anybody tell me why all my US cars have enormous side-mirror blind spot? And my European cars have none? Are European cars using curved mirrors to prevent this? Edit: I just googled it. That’s exactly what’s happening - EU side mirrors are curved to prevent blind spots.

"Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear"

One of the better scenes in Jurassic Park.

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#116

Post by krisoft »

saiya-jin wrote: post #104
bdamm wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality steel nails are expensive, roads are very plentiful, and sensors have noise. Also, staying in a lane is not the problem. Teslas and pretty much all other quality brands sold today do it already. The problem is complex behavior like merging and routing around obstacles (like a person changing their tire.) Cheaper and easier would be surveying and improving road markings. As for snow, well, my Tesla maintains l…

What a surreal read... where are all the cases of Tesla hitting stuff it clearly shouldn't, that no real sane driver would ever do? Also, 'maintaining position fairly well' is too low bar in situation where mistakes can and do cost lives. I am all up for people willingly do beta testing for Tesla they even have to pay for, but it should be clearly marked and explained as so in contracts. The thing is, most folks are…

Bb8 proposes that we should install magnetic nails in our roads.

Bdamm counters that magnetic nails would help with lane keeping, but that is clearly not the part self driving cars have the most trouble with.

As you astutely observe “ hitting stuff it clearly shouldn't” is the problem. Which magnetic nails in the road would not help even a bit.

> 'maintaining position fairly well' is too low bar in situation where mistakes can and do cost lives

Yes! And again. Maintaining position is the only thing magnetic nails in the road would help with. Bdamm was not arguing that the car keep lane position therefore it is good. Bdamm was arguing that magnetic nails would not help with the real problems.

> What a surreal read

That is exactly my opinion about your comment. Can you follow two sentences stringed together?

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#117

Post by mschuster91 »

saiya-jin wrote: post #104
bdamm wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality steel nails are expensive, roads are very plentiful, and sensors have noise. Also, staying in a lane is not the problem. Teslas and pretty much all other quality brands sold today do it already. The problem is complex behavior like merging and routing around obstacles (like a person changing their tire.) Cheaper and easier would be surveying and improving road markings. As for snow, well, my Tesla maintains l…

What a surreal read... where are all the cases of Tesla hitting stuff it clearly shouldn't, that no real sane driver would ever do? Also, 'maintaining position fairly well' is too low bar in situation where mistakes can and do cost lives. I am all up for people willingly do beta testing for Tesla they even have to pay for, but it should be clearly marked and explained as so in contracts. The thing is, most folks are…

> where are all the cases of Tesla hitting stuff it clearly shouldn't, that no real sane driver would ever do?

Real sane drivers hit stuff all the time. Miscalculated takeovers ending up in frontal collisions (these can be really REALLY fucking nasty, two 3-ton SUVs @ 100km/h have a lot of potential energy), trucks crashing into traffic jam rear ends and squashing together a dozen cars in front of them, people mistaking stairs to a train station as a car parking ramp (this is a common occurrence here in Munich [1])... the simple thing is, as long as an instance of an object is on a road, one of the instances will eventually get hit by a stupid mistake of someone.

[1] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchen-marienhof-u-ba...

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#118

Post by persedes »

deburo wrote: post #7

Available in Europe since 2006? Why did it take so long for the US? LED lightbeams are so bright that high beams is almost unbearable for opposing cars.

only rented cars in europe for 10+ years before moving to the US, so I did not have a reference point. But I had no clue the headlights were different in that aspect and just assumed all of those SUVs etc had theirs ill adjusted. Its a lot of fun being blinded constantly on a busy road while driving at night :|

Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

#119

Post by wheybags »

prng2021 wrote: post #31
bb88 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong, the NHTSA should be more proactive on this stuff. But to be fair, drunk drivers kill 28 people a day in this country, or about 10k people per year. 3k people die at signalled intersections every year, or around 8ish per day. While Tesla shouldn't be beta testing their self driving cars on public roads, it's clear that human behavior and existing road design is still vastly worse.

Yes drunk driving is a terrible problem but beta testing software on the open road is not the only option available. It's nothing but irresponsible. Here's one of many: use sensors and AI in the car to detect a drunk person behind the wheel. This is HN so I'm sure readers could spend 10 seconds and think of numerous ways this could be accomplished and many otherideas about what could be done when a drunk driver is de…

No need for fancy sensors and ai - I used an electric scooter rental in Germany recently, and it made me do a reaction speed test on my phone before starting. Super easy.
Post reply on HN