The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars • Hacker News Board

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

#251

Post by za3faran » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:04 PM UTC

midoridensha wrote: post #103

karlshea wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The passenger side is curved, the driver’s side isn’t. But the passenger side curved mirror isn’t the same type of curve as Euro cars so there are still bigger blind spots, and the driver’s side blind spots are huge.

Exactly; I should have been more specific: EU mirrors are aspherical, so the curvature isn't consistent. The US government believes, rightly or wrongly, that American drivers are simply too stupid to properly comprehend the view from an aspherical mirror, so therefore they are banned in the US.

Would it be legal to import and install a European mirror for your car model?

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

#252

Post by wanderingmoose » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:12 PM UTC

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…

Caltrans had pilot program in the mid-1990's running self driving cars that used magnets embedded in the road. They would run "caravans" of five-ish vehicles driving almost bumper to bumper. This was tested on the car pool lanes on sections of a highway between los angeles and san diego.

This was a partnership between caltrans, the college of engineering at uc berkeley amongst others.

Unfortunately I can find any readily available links, but all of the data should be public. I'm only aware of this because I worked w/ some of the technical groups on the project (very tangentially involved).

I know the magnets were always considered a problem (cost/effort), but there weren't other options at the time, as computer vision was too computationally expensive at the time.

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

#253

Post by ehvatum » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:25 PM UTC

danaris wrote: post #220

Ajedi32 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny thing is I actually can't tell which party you're referring to. All of those accusations can and have been leveled against each party by the other. I think that actually says a lot about the real cause of the legislative gridlock you're referring to: when each side insists the other is a bunch of fascists that they simply can't work with, well... they won't work with them, and this is the result.

Then you haven't been paying attention. The Democratic Party has advanced actual legislative agendas, tried to govern, and supports democracy. The Republican Party has openly stated their goal to "make Obama a one-term president", frustrate Democratic legislation simply because it is Democratic legislation , and is actively working to subvert democracy and both prevent and overthrow the results of free and fair elect…

> The Republican Party has openly stated their goal to "make Obama a one-term president"

That’s a very trashy hot take. Doing everything possible to demonize and replace a POTUS is American tradition dating to the Peggy Eaton affair and has contributed to a United States civil war. In recent times, Democrats objected to the Trump presidency, elected though he was, and sought to block his every move. In fact, when Trump announced the COVID vaccine initiative, the Democratic Party held congressional hearings decrying it as a dangerous waste.

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

#254

Post by ericmay » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:30 PM UTC

uptown wrote: post #239

ericmay wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you have the wrong premise. It's not "do I drink or not", it's "I have drank, do I drive or not?"

So we seem to agree -- there is a choice.

I think we disagree because you're saying you can choose to drink or not, but the choice we're talking about is now that you have drunk, do you drive or not? Because that's the actual choice that Americans face.

If you're saying that "drive or not" is the choice, then sure we agree. But that's not really a choice because every incentive would be to drive and that's the structure we've built with car-only culture.

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

#255

Post by upbeat_general » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:36 PM UTC

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.

I wish this were the case! Plenty of more expensive cars (~40k) still don’t have it standard. And almost no ~20-30k cars have it standard either.

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

#256

Post by Retric » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:46 PM UTC

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…

The average American only drives ~35 miles per day. 1 hour may represent the average time driven per day but it’s much longer than the average trip length. Which doesn’t mean it’s a bad point of comparison but distance seems like the more common metric.

Failure intervals generally use multiple different metrics depending on context. You see statistics for fatalities per year or per passenger mile as both being relevant depending on the context. A life insurance company and a car insurance company would focus on different statistics.

The natural comparison for AI seems to be each individual situation. With City and Highway driving being different enough to be considered separately. In that context ~5 second intervals seem fairly natural because the car who accurately identified everything 0.001 seconds ago is probably going to avoid maying a major mistake for a few seconds. In much the same way a human driver can blink or look at a reed view mirror without significant risk.

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

#257

Post by sizzle » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 5:46 PM UTC

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…

The worst are the HID Xeon lights in non protector lens housing that blinds everyone

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

#258

Post by nicoburns » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #241

nicoburns wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, but again this doesn’t apply to blue badge holders who park for free in all sorts of places where you’re not usually allowed to park.

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

#259

Post by piaste » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 6:37 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #224

piaste wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, even so, getting a DUI while sleeping is strictly better than getting a DUI after a car crash. Plus, I don't know how American cops work, but hopefully they're less likely to stop and breathalyze a dude sleeping in a parking lot than a guy on the road at 4 AM. Also, now that I think about it, American cars are huge, if you put the seat all the way back is your body you going to be even visible from the road?

> body you going to be even visible from the road? No but your car will be, which will probably be investigated. If you are on the side of the road you'll definitely be investigated and for sure get a DUI because they'll say you drove there and parked. (Also definitely a no-go on highways/freeways). If you are in a parking lot cops will usually scope out a car, especially if you are parked away from other cars and th…

Stopping on the side of the road should get you a DUI, for the reason you listed. I didn't suggest that - although I guess stopping too late is still better than staying on the road!

I've slept in my car in night clubs' parking lots several times and have never been bothered, either by the owners or by the police. I've also had friends follow my recommendation (well, more like pleading/pushing, since they were insisting 'noo I'm fine to drive') without trouble. Likely a difference between laws/customs in different countries.

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

#260

Post by u801e » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:06 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #190

ericmay wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People drink and drive in America because they have no choice. You can’t walk him from a bar, and even if it’s available nobody is paying $40 for an Uber when they can drive their car. If we want to lower drunk driving incidence rates we need people walking to the bar or taking public transit. It requires us to fix our outdated and asinine transit culture. All of the technical solutions in the world can’t solve this…

>People drink and drive in America because they have no choice. You can’t walk him from a bar, and even if it’s available nobody is paying $40 for an Uber when they can drive their car. List of choices: 1. Not drink alcohol 2. Drink less alcohol, and switch to water at least 1 hour before driving. 3. Pay for a driver 4. Live where you can walk to an establishment that serves alcohol 5. Rent a hotel room nearby And so…

6. Ride a bicycle

If the drunk driver ends up in a collision with a motorist, then the damage to the other party would be minimal. The drunk person also still has personal transportation as well.