Posted on 02/19/2024 8:56:17 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Imagine if you could drive at night with your high beams on all the time, bathing the road ahead in bright light but without ever blinding other drivers.
In Europe and Asia, many cars offer adaptive driving beam headlights that can do this. ADB is a lighting technology that has been available for many years in other parts of the world including Europe, China and Canada, but not in the United States.
It can actually shape the light coming from headlights rather than scattering it all over the road. If there’s a car coming in the other direction, or one driving ahead in the same lane, the light stays precisely away from that vehicle. The rest of the road is still covered in bright light with just a pocket of dimmer light around the other vehicles. This way a deer, pedestrian or bicyclist by the side of the road can still be seen clearly while other drivers sharing the road can see, too.
In America, the closest we can get to that today are automatic high beams, a feature available on many new cars that automatically flicks off the high beams if another vehicle is detected ahead. But that still means driving much — or most — of the time using only low beam headlights that don’t reach very far. That can be dangerous.
U.S. auto safety regulations enacted in 2022 were supposed to finally allow ADB headlight, something for which the auto industry and safety groups had long been asking for. But, according to automakers and safety advocates, the new rules make it difficult for automakers to add the feature. That means it will probably be years before ADB headlights are widely available in the US.
(Excerpt) Read more at channel3000.com ...
My old Nissan Stanza had a side light that turned on when turning so you could see where you’re turning into.
Miss that feature.
It is one of the most dangerous and irritating “features”. So, if you are behind someone and they take a left or right turn and you have to go around them, your car slams on its brakes, requiring you to push the accelerator even as your car is braking.
Hate it. The ONLY feature of the entire suite (and that includes the idiotic “stop your engine when you come to a halt “feature”) that I like and enjoy is the adaptive cruise control.
THAT is an improvement.
If there is an accident caused by meeting one of these vehicles at night, I wonder if it would make a difference in a possible court case?
“why don’t they do it?”
It’s a nasty problem for me. Maybe younger people’s eyes don’t have the brightness smeared across their retinas.
I think the blue-white-ness of the LED lights makes the problem worse. Don’t warmer lights scatter less?
THAT is an improvement.
Yet that improvement also hard brakes your car when the car in front of you is turning. Even though you know it will be gone by the time you pass it. But overall, I agree with you. Regular cruise control never works when you come up with a car going slower.
Egad! How can that be? I didn’t believe it, and just did a search, and it cost $60-$175 for one side ($120-$350 for both) but perhaps it is a specific model.
I cannot imagine. LOL, must be using Lucas parts for the headlights! (Lucas: The Father of Darkness)
With a good moon, I’ll see him easily.
Absolutely. I do occasionally use it on back roads, but in those situations, I am going along to get along, in no rush, and if the car slows down, I don’t mind if it slows me down too...
As someone else said, when someone cuts into your lane on the highway in front of you at speed...THAT can be a problem.
I also use the adaptive cruise control on non-highway situations when there is NOBODY on the road, and also when I use it to precisely control my speed when going through an area known for high speed limit enforcement.
I think all these features should be wholly voluntary. However it did occur to me that your car is recording ALL these parameters for some time frame (could be days or even a week) so if you got into an accident, even if the visible footage is not available, information about how many times your vehicle jammed on the brakes, how many times your alarm went off because you crossed the centerline, etc. could be subpoenaed.
And if you turned it off because it was annoying and you rear ended a car, that could probably be used against you as well.
I hate it. Hate all of it.
I do not think this is like changing a bulb that you can buy at any auto parts store. This is the exterior lens. The glass part on the outside. He said it and the interior LEDs were one unit. He said he could not believe it when the BMW dealer quoted him the price.
HATE the cruise control on the Honda. It slows you WAY before it should, and sometimes when I am passed it slows the car even though the passing car is pulling away from me. It’s a 2019, maybe they’ve improved since. Fortunately, I mainly drive my 2009 Frontier (144k) and 2016 F150 (70k), both 4WD.
My insurance company promotes Drivewise. Which is a nanny monitor of how you drive.
No Thanks.
I miss the cars that had the high beam/low beam button on the floor, operated by the left foot.
Buy an old car with dual round headlights.
Install aircraft landing lights for the high beams.
You’ll be able to see the tops of trees at night along with waking up roosters as you drive by.
You’re welcome!
I like big lights, I can not lie.
This is indeed a problem, and it’s mostly why I rarely drive during the evening hours anymore. And what really ticks me off is when you try to point out how bright their lights are, they flash their high beams to you and blind you even more!
Well, there's another issue with these things that chaps me. The human eye has best sensitivity and contrast discrimination in the yellow part of the spectrum. These LEDs put way too much of their energy out at wavelengths where the eye doesn't want it.
I have a 2019 Subaru, and it does give you the option to adjust your distance from the vehicle in front of you when in adaptive cruise control, and I think that setting also affects the slowdown when someone is in front, and the acceleration back to speed when there is space to close.
I think.
I've been saying this for years. Probably replace the windshield with an led screen. Driving at midnight will be like a sunny day.
And to answer the next question someone will ask; They will come up with a way to see if the screen dies.
The new headlights are intense. I walk the dog every night, and I have to shield my eyes when a car with the new lights approaches. They light up the road ahead three blocks.
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