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The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars

arstechnica.com

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

#241

Post by iso1631 »

nicoburns wrote: post #159
voltagex_ wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I live in London which has all-but banned cars in the city centre (they're not banned, but there is an expensive congestion charge which means that in practice most traffic in the centre is buses, taxis, or very wealthy people). However, there is an exception for anyone with a "blue badge" holder (for those with disabilities which prevent easy mobility - wheelchair users and others). These people not only get free ca…

> there is an expensive congestion charge

Pales in comparison to the cost of parking. An afternoon in the Q-Park at Westminster is £45, 3 times the price of the congestion charge.

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

#242

Post by josefresco »

Maursault wrote: post #35

I'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…

> misaligned headlights on pickup trucks

Never had a problem with pickups but I've had several dozen experiences where the headlights behind me were "blinding" and in most cases the vehicle in question ended up being an Audi, Mercedes or BMW. In later years, this "headlight disease" spread to other mainstream brands - can't say I've ever been blinding by "big pickup guy".

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

#243

Post by Schroedingersat »

albert180 wrote: post #229
Schroedingersat wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of that even acknowledged the existence of non-car road users, let alone provided any confidence that they'd be reliable in a world where teslas regularly try to swerve into cyclists or onto railways.

Well guess what, It's an technology that's available for 16 years in Europe. Unlike Tesla we don't dump unsafe beta shit on the road... Here from another article "Audi's digital matrix LED headlight design can do that too. It recognizes vehicles and pedestrians in front of the car and adjusts the headlight beam as needed. Read More: https://www.slashgear.com/audi-digital-matrix-led-headlights... "

Yes, and even worse than my prediction that they'd completely ignore other road and footpath users and blind them indifferently the volkswagen one just flashes the high beams at them intentionally (at least when they aren't misidentified).

Can't wait for this one to start displaying ads when the driver's premium subscription runs out and when it's parked outside my bedroom (personalised by the cameras sending a live feed to audi).

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

#244

Post by silisili »

ReptileMan wrote: post #237
bobthepanda wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people can afford to pay a cab for every trip they make?

If you can aford to get wasted in a bar, you afford the car ride to take you home

I'm obviously not defending drunk driving, but for many people, remember to double that cost.

You either have to take an uber both ways, or get an uber home, then back to your car in the morning.

I used to just Uber if I thought I'd be drinking at -all-, but hell that costed me about 60 to 70 bucks which definitely isn't realistic for most young people looking to just have a few beers out.

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

#245

Post by dominotw »

Hamuko wrote: post #171
dominotw wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They tell that about every single safety feature in cars. Reversing cameras usually always have a warning to not rely on the image, even though basically the only way to actually get a proper view what's behind you in a modern car is to get out of the car and go behind it. I imagine it's all about liability.

> They tell that about every single safety feature in cars.

> I imagine it's all about liability.

'Just ignore warnings in the manual' doesn't seem like smart strategy. Dust and snow disable those sensors frequently. Those warning are not just there for some legal reasons.

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

#246

Post by dominotw »

hnbad wrote: post #187
Hamuko wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tell that about every single safety feature in cars. Reversing cameras usually always have a warning to not rely on the image, even though basically the only way to actually get a proper view what's behind you in a modern car is to get out of the car and go behind it. I imagine it's all about liability.

Looking over your shoulder isn't part of driver's ed in the US? In Germany you'd literally fail your exam if you forget to do that even once before turning. You don't even need to move your upper body, just turn your head to the side and look in that direction and you'll cover most blind spots. They also teach you how to adjust your mirrors and how to tell they're adjusted correctly. They also do a blind spot demonst…

They have these tests and education in US too. Dust and snow can make those sensors faulty so you should still do the 'look over your shoulder'.

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

#247

Post by saltcured »

sgtnoodle wrote: post #228
Retric wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Five seconds seems roughly how long it would take for really bad choices to cause an accident. In heavy traffic you can cause an accident by steering into a car in under a second. I am sure someone has had two independent accidents in under a minute. An hour on the other hand is completely arbitrary, why not a day or a minute?

Any fixed timespan chosen to analyze risk is arbitrary, and you can convert between timespans using probability math. I'd say it's typical to choose the average "mission" length, because that's the most relevant to the purpose. For a self driving car, an hour would make sense. For the first stage of a rocket, 5 minutes. You don't ride in a car appreciating every 5 seconds that you haven't crashed yet, do you? Maybe i…

You're trying to talk about system reliability as a whole, while the others are talking about reliability of individual decisions or event handling.

It's like the difference between talking about all-causes mortality versus the reliability of a bullet proof vest. Some don't buy that the vest is more reliable when we are not being shot.

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

#248

Post by gorkish »

j-bos wrote: post #192
datavirtue wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Unlikely as most people (in Texas at least) get their vehicles inspected at a mechanic's shop, not a police station.

I plainly remember mechanics using an optical headlight alignment tool during inspections in Texas back in the 80's. I haven't seen one in a shop in decades though. All these requirements still exist, they are just completely ignored by everybody.

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

#249

Post by Maursault »

fallingknife wrote: post #238
Maursault wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Quite a claim with no source. I am the source. Anyone that gets blinded at night by oncoming traffic is the source, because this should not happen with properly aligned headlights. Regardless of ground clearance, low beam headlights should angle down towards the road to focus on the road approximately 125ft from the front tires. The higher the ground clearance, the steeper the angle. > Are you claiming that the man…

I don't believe that you can determine which headlights are illegal by looking at oncoming traffic. I don't believe that dealers or or drivers are modifying them in illegal configurations at more than a minimal rate. This would be quite the conspiracy.

> I don't believe that you can determine which headlights are illegal by looking at oncoming traffic.

Anyone can. Headlights are collimated by reflectors. If the lights of oncoming traffic are in your eyes at a distance of half a mile or more, then it is obvious they are misaligned, as proper alignment necessarily requires they be at an angle pointed at the road no more than 150' in front of the front tires.

> I don't believe that dealers or or drivers are modifying them in illegal configurations at more than a minimal rate. This would be quite the conspiracy.

Conspiracy is not required. All that is required here is ignorance and/or entitlement.

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

#250

Post by autoexec »

stefan_ wrote: post #156
autoexec wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the NHTSA is way too slow, but damn am I glad they're doing the work! I love that they're checking everything carefully and doing the research before approving new designs.

The NHTSA is regulating all the wrong things. How many people have been killed by wrong headlight shape? How would you even test that regulation? Meanwhile, people are free to go 100mph in cities, with the trivially demonstrable deaths that causes for no upside.

> How many people have been killed by wrong headlight shape?

Hopefully very few because standards keep ineffective or dangerous designs off the road.

As for testing, they have that very well covered.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/document/laboratory-test-procedure-fmv...

They could regulate cars to make sure they're incapable of going faster than a certain speed, but people seem to want faster and faster cars for some reason and I'm guessing most accidents aren't happening at > 100mph speeds

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