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

#81

Post by mellavora » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:01 AM UTC

puffoflogic wrote: post #34

dzhiurgis wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes they can be faster, but personally I don’t find them too bad. Half kilometre away the opposing beams are noticeable but not blinding you, yet some drivers blink theirs mostly just to warn you. Matrix headlights is whole next level. People similarly freak out when you back up too quickly into them, because you have a reversing camera on.

> People similarly freak out when you back up too quickly into them, because you have a reversing camera on. Much worse, your car freaks out nowadays. Twice I've had my car apply ABS while I was backing up, while I was fully aware of a car behind me but not in my planned path.

> your car freaks out nowadays.

yes, I almost had a crash in a rental because it freaked out.

Car in front of me is stopped at a light. I'm rolling towards it, well aware of the situation and ready to break in plenty of time.

suddenly a big red light is flashing on my dashboard (like as big as the spedo) and a loud alarm goes off.

Huge distraction.

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

#82

Post by silisili » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:01 AM UTC

bb88 wrote: post #28

prng2021 wrote: post #4

We 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.

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.

Drunk driving is a legal issue. The entire problem is that it's not treated seriously, and super easy to get out of. Yes, even in fatal accidents.

If the US really cared, drunk and distracted driving would have appropriate sentencing. For god knows what reason, we're still not there yet.

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

#83

Post by rswail » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:02 AM UTC

bb88 wrote: post #28

prng2021 wrote: post #4

We 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.

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.

The problem is not drunk drivers but incapacitated drivers, whether due to alcohol, drugs, lack of sleep, distractions (mobile phones), etc.

The fix is not arbitrary alcohol blood levels, or extending the "War on Drugs", but with standardized, enforced, in-vehicle continuous testing that ensures that the driver is awake, responsive, and in control of the vehicle.

That is something where R&D in AI/ML/software to analyze and detect incapacity could/should be directed.

It can be entirely on/in-vehicle, with access to the data only available to law enforcement (and, perhaps, insurance companies), if and when it is needed to determine liability (not as a general "carte blanche" for the data), in the same way that aircraft black boxes are only analyzed for investigation after an incident.

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

#84

Post by rswail » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:05 AM UTC

nichos wrote: post #39

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.

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.

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

#85

Post by londons_explore » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:06 AM UTC

rswail wrote: post #83

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.

The problem is not drunk drivers but incapacitated drivers, whether due to alcohol, drugs, lack of sleep, distractions (mobile phones), etc. The fix is not arbitrary alcohol blood levels, or extending the "War on Drugs", but with standardized, enforced, in-vehicle continuous testing that ensures that the driver is awake, responsive, and in control of the vehicle. That is something where R&D in AI/ML/software to analy…

I have a suspicion that most accidents involve the worst 10% of drivers.

I'd like to see research into ways to identify those drivers and encourage them to improve their driving skill.

For example, one way might be to make a register of driving skill public information, and then insurance companies can jack their prices up for those people unless they go on and pass (government funded) extra training courses.

Such a register could simply be an open database of insurance claims, or police crash records showing the names of people involved.

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

#86

Post by saurik » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:10 AM UTC

Part of me feels like we need to just make cars much much much more reflective (being careful to not have hard corners or flat surfaces that could create glare during the day). First of all, that would make them much more easily visible at night (which would be great, and is something everyone should want)... but it would also mean that if you are an asshole and use your high beams or otherwise shine a light at a car you will also get blinded and thereby there will be an actual incentive to not harm others with your lighting setups.

(I would personally award bonus points if this is implemented with some kind of inverse adaptive "matrix" mirror mechanism whereby reflective-ness is automatically concentrated at light sources that are directing light at you. This is again a win for good light citizens as it would make the car not overly bright during the day while managing to boost its visibility specifically to people who themselves have lights looking for obstacles, with the only side effect of blinding people with dangerous lightings setups who are blinding others already.)

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

#87

Post by sgtnoodle » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:11 AM UTC

waste_monk wrote: post #77

andrewflnr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they're doing something dystopian instead of something sensible. But yes, I bet even better standardized road markings would be a huge help for self driving cars. I wonder if there's something stupid simple like a paint additive that would make it easy for machines to track. Magnetic beads?

Then any asshole could mix up their own magnetic bead paint and cause havoc. Probably no more than someone painting their own road lines or putting up fake signage does now [1], but if you want something that's better than what we currently have it would need to not only be both machine and human readable, but also authenticated. I always thought it would be quite neat to have those portable roadside displays you see…

Just have the human readable signs be reasonably standardized, and the self driving car computer can then read them too.

It's a lot easier and more future proof to side-channel map updates to cars through a cell network, and allows for some curation. Also, improved cell network coverage seems like a more worthwhile capital expenditure for a local government than a bunch of smart signs that only help 0.001% of drivers. Cynically, I'm sure some politician's spouse's cousin would be happy to win the contract to slap a BLE beacon into a box and bolt it onto a sign for $150k a unit, though...

There is an ongoing effort to introduce infrastructure free direct communication for vehicles, using 5.9ghz spectrum. The spectrum was previously allocated to DSRC radio technology the automotive industry pushed for, but it's been 15 years and it hasn't gone anywhere. The FCC is now letting the cell network folk take a crack at solving the problem instead.

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

#88

Post by nraynaud » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:12 AM 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…

when I was a kid in France I remember one some car parks at the beginning of the winter there were people tuning headlights with a machine. I don't know the specifics because I was too young (was it the police? a road safety non-profit?)

It has disappeared a long time ago.

edit: https://valdeuropeinfos.fr/faites-verifier-vos-phares-gratui... actually it still exists, and it's the police (a technical department dedicated to road safety)

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

#89

Post by SuperQue » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:17 AM UTC

rswail wrote: post #83

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.

The problem is not drunk drivers but incapacitated drivers, whether due to alcohol, drugs, lack of sleep, distractions (mobile phones), etc. The fix is not arbitrary alcohol blood levels, or extending the "War on Drugs", but with standardized, enforced, in-vehicle continuous testing that ensures that the driver is awake, responsive, and in control of the vehicle. That is something where R&D in AI/ML/software to analy…

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.

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

#90

Post by ggm » Mon, Oct 17, 2022, 7:19 AM UTC

Fix glare. Headlamp technology has driven to a point that harms other drivers. It's dangerous. I don't drive at night now if I can avoid it, because of night vision issues which high strength blue light headlamps exacerbate.