I quite like Ars Technica. I wish I could edit the word "finally" out of their headlines whenever they use it.
The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
161–170 of 290 posts
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#162The bright-in-your-eyes headlights (oncoming or following you) are a problem, especially oncoming on curves. I learned early to follow the outside lane marker with my eyes, effectively taking my eyes off the road to avoid getting temporarily blinded. My wife suggested a fun tech solution: night vision and making all lights less bright. Kind of a fun idea: a slight glow or dim lights so you can still see vehicles unai…
[deleted]
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#163I'd be happy if local and state police just started issuing citations in earnest for misaligned headlights on pickup trucks. 99% of the pickups I come across at night have their low beams pointing straight instead of down at the road. It's so common that it can't be a coincidence that nearly every pickup truck has an illegal headlight configuration. And it isn't due to higher ground clearance, that's just their lame…
That's something that should be caught in mandatory periodic vehicle safety inspections. I always thought it was weird that in large parts of the US that is simply not a thing (compared to places I'm used to in the rest of the world where it seems totally normal)
We don't have the resources deployed for this. They are too busy wasting thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition each week, practicing for thier next shout-out.
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a train. You're inventing trains but much worse and not available to the poor. Just build a train.
If everyone lives right by the train station that’s fine. What about people in wheelchairs who live in the countryside and prefer to be dropped off at their doorstep? Or someone who can’t drive themself but could use an autonomous car or taxi to go to the hospital in an emergency situation (without waiting a while for the next open train)?
Most people already live near a train, tram or bus station. Or somewhere it would be worth building one anyway.
Taxis already exist, just like trains they work fine.
Personal cars will likely always exist, but only a small minority absolutely needs one. The bulk of human transportation doesn’t need cars.
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#165Earlier 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…
10k is a respectfull number on an ordinary wheel chair. I know two wheel chair users who use an armbicycle, like an extra motor assisted handcrank that is attached on their wheelchair. They easily do about 15km per day (considering they have no car and live 8km from work).
That you need a car is not a given but as you say a result from stupid decisions you can't control.
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Nice, I hadn't heard about that. Apparently there's a company working on using light to detect blood alcohol level so you can use a touch sensor. https://www.npr.org/2022/09/20/1124171320/autos-drunk-drivin...
They also need to enforce the speed. In that story the drunk driver was driving 90 mph.
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Are they worried you'll kill someone with your electric scooter?
It is inexplicable how e scooters are treated like death machines in comparison to 4000 pound SUVs which get no restrictions.
Scooters have regulated speed, zones that are banned from use, reaction tests, sidewalk restrictions and on and on. You would think there were thousands of e scooter deaths per year.
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Too much government regulation.
That's a crap comment, define where and how it's "too much", considering that the vehicle design rules and regulations have literally saved millions of lives? People forget the Edsel and "unsafe at any speed" from the 1950s/60s.
Because every SUV looks identical now as a result. There isn't a car enthusiast alive today who could identify and differentiate the top 10 SUV manufacturers in a lineup with their logos removed.
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ford had to petition the government to switch from sealed beam headlights to composite lights by claiming they couldn't meet fuel economy standards without them. The truth was they just wanted to use them on the then new Taurus. It was another 5 years before you could use a shape other than rectangular or round, even for composite lights. I believe the Dodge Viper was the first US car to get them.
Oh, so that's why old US-spec European cars look so weird. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Mercedes... https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/1988_560...
Oh crazy, never realize that either. That SL does look better with round ones though...
Re: The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars
#170We allow companies like Tesla to jeopardize people's lives while the company beta tests "full self driving" technology, but are scared of allowing proven safe technology like adaptive headlights.
This is because the only place for progress in America seemingly is within yet-nonexistent unregulated areas. As soon as something gets regulated in the US it mostly is doomed to lag decades behind the rest of the developed world (because American policymakers apparently are not fond of updating existing laws/rules and the bureaucracy is not flexible enough, often prioritizing the letter of the law). Of course there…
Metamizol (Novalgin) is probably one of the biggest examples of this I know. It's a non-NSAID, non-addictive painkiller that was discovered over 100 years ago and banned in the USA in the 60s. It has a similar danger profile to Diclofenac (Voltaren), which is now prescribed like candy. And it is still widely used in Germany and Switzerland, so there is lots of data on 'modern' populations. But since nobody can patent it, there's no motivation to get it reapproved in the US, so everyone get opioids instead.