Adaptive headlights will now be allowed in the US

[silver64]

The new adaptive lights we will be seeing in the near future will be of course much more expensive because they come with a host of additional sensors, cameras, software and processors to provide a much better night lighting system. See the article below that explains much better than I can.

Adaptive driving beams are finally going to be legal in the U.S.

Adaptive driving beams are finally going to become legal, thanks to a provision in the infrastructure bill. This is great news for nighttime driving safety — your author is particularly excited that this technology will finally be legal in cars sold in the U.S. In case you need a refresher...

autos.yahoo.com

How this is in the albatross of an infrastructure bill I have no clue!!!

 

[bigdodge]

The new adaptive lights we will be seeing in the near future will be of course much more expensive because they come with a host of additional sensors, cameras, software and processors to provide a much better night lighting system. See the article below that explains much better than I can.

Adaptive driving beams are finally going to be legal in the U.S.

Adaptive driving beams are finally going to become legal, thanks to a provision in the infrastructure bill. This is great news for nighttime driving safety — your author is particularly excited that this technology will finally be legal in cars sold in the U.S. In case you need a refresher...

autos.yahoo.com

How this is in the albatross of an infrastructure bill I have no clue!!!

always pork in any bill

anyway oh boy something that needs more chips.

 

[silver64]

I am curious to see how they use the bright lights to highlight sensed items on the road. The current lights I have are some of the best I have had on any vehicle so improvements like this should be pretty awesome to have.

 

[byebyebowtie]

jalopnik posted an article a little while back with how headlights are getting so expensive that insurance companies are totalling cars just from a busted headlight.

 

[jmt8706]

jalopnik posted an article a little while back with how headlights are getting so expensive that insurance companies are totalling cars just from a busted headlight.

Had a Lincoln test vehicle at work hit a deer, busted the front bumper and LED headlight. The new headlight was delivered and cost around $3k.

 

[silver64]

I am curious to see how they use the bright lights to highlight sensed items on the road. The current lights I have are some of the best I have had on any vehicle so improvements like this should be pretty awesome to have.

jalopnik posted an article a little while back with how headlights are getting so expensive that insurance companies are totalling cars just from a busted headlight.

Then I guess its just another reason for them to start raising our rates.

 

[OldMarine]

I am about to retire,( Dec 1st ), from insurance appraising...I can tell you we routinely see headlamps now that cost $4000-$5000 A PIECE on some of the higher end cars....even Corolla's headlamps are over $1000.....crazy.

 

[grimreefer]

Had a Lincoln test vehicle at work hit a deer, busted the front bumper and LED headlight. The new headlight was delivered and cost around $3k.

Wow. I guess Rams aren't so bad then... relatively speaking. Had a set of headlights ordered back in January and they were listing at over $1050 each. Tail lights were $550 a pop.

 

[2019REBEL]

Wow. I guess Rams aren't so bad then... relatively speaking. Had a set of headlights ordered back in January and they were listing at over $1050 each. Tail lights were $550 a pop.

And for the brake light and cargo lights they put in a 50 cent bulb.

 

[gHiDoRa]

wow, we American really behind lot of.....

 

[jkm312]

Sounds beneficial if all the glitches are worked out and they are reliable. A guess on my part will be that you will see this as an option on high end and upper trim levels as an option to start with. The second step will be that these lights will be required on all vehicles at some point in time. Similar to the way backup cameras have become a mainstream requirement. Regardless the cost and maintenance of cars and trucks is not going to go down.

 

[JoeCo]

Sounds beneficial if all the glitches are worked out and they are reliable.

That's the part I'd worry about a little, but maybe their technology is better. Hard to tell but I feel like I see a lot of cars with auto high beams that don't turn off early enough, or the car doesn't have it and the driver is just a dumb ***, which I see plenty too. Or the best yet, in my area it seems to have become popular to just drive with your high beams on all of the time, regardless of your surroundings. So maybe versus having to deal with that, these adaptive headlights might be nice if they work properly just to take the guess work out of which lighting to use for the drivers who don't seem to be intelligent enough to decipher the correct lighting position.

I don't use the auto high beams on my ram because I feel they take too long to shut off and I don't like blinding other drivers, although I know some people seem to have better luck with them from what I hear. My prior ram had a level and the auto high beams did not work well at all, and I assumed it was due to the level. I have to say though I wasn't impressed with my 21s auto high beams and the truck is completely stock, so I'll just operate them myself.

 

[grimreefer]

That's the part I'd worry about a little, but maybe their technology is better. Hard to tell but I feel like I see a lot of cars with auto high beams that don't turn off early enough, or the car doesn't have it and the driver is just a dumb ***, which I see plenty too. Or the best yet, in my area it seems to have become popular to just drive with your high beams on all of the time, regardless of your surroundings. So maybe versus having to deal with that, these adaptive headlights might be nice if they work properly just to take the guess work out of which lighting to use for the drivers who don't seem to be intelligent enough to decipher the correct lighting position.

I don't use the auto high beams on my ram because I feel they take too long to shut off and I don't like blinding other drivers, although I know some people seem to have better luck with them from what I hear. My prior ram had a level and the auto high beams did not work well at all, and I assumed it was due to the level. I have to say though I wasn't impressed with my 21s auto high beams and the truck is completely stock, so I'll just operate them myself.

I never use the auto high beams any more. I tried them early on but they were inconsistent as hell. Besides the same issue of not shifting to low beams early enough for oncoming traffic they would spaz out due to reflective road signs all the time. Call me very unimpressed as well.

 

[djevox]

To each their own, but I’m pretty impressed with the speed that mine turn off when another car crests a hill or is approaching. It’s much better than the auto high beams in the ‘19 honda accord I got rid of.

 

[mikeru82]

I gotta say the auto high beams on my '21 Limited are much better than they were on the '20 Laramie I had. I stopped using them on the Laramie because of how much they would spaz out from road signs. Even porch lights on farm houses would cause them to dim. I'm happy with how well they work on my Limited. The only time I might turn them off now is for the first 2 miles of my commute. The road has several turns, and don't dim as early as I would manually dim them.

 

[silver64]

Hopefully the Europeans worked out all the bugs for us. The adaptive lights are much more than just auto high beams switching on & off. I will be curious to see how smart they really are and what they intelligently do & do not illuminate. The idea of increasing or decreasing the light on AI recognized objects interests me as a techno geek!

 

[jimchi]

Audi has a cool video showing what adaptive headlights can do:

In short, they use similar technology found in a home theater projector. Using sensors, adaptive headlights can use high beams all the time, but selectively block parts of the beam to prevent other drivers from being blinded by the intense light.

I think it's a cool technology and it's about time we get it in the USA. I've been impressed with the headlights on my Limited that can angle with the steering wheel at higher speeds. These adaptive headlights should be even more impressive.

And for all the complainers, this law will allow for adaptive headlights, not require them. That's because it's removing a regulation.

 

[Rlaf75]

Just wait until we actually find out what else is buried in this "infrastructure" bill. Buckle up because it's going to be a bumpy ride

 

[Idahoktm]

I was skeptical about the auto high beams because I'm pretty sensitive about blasting other cars...it's rude, but the system on this truck is impressive. The first few times I used it, I had my hand behind the lever waiting to intervene. Now I just turn them on and let it do its thing. If the lever wasn't so far away from the steering wheel in the auto mode, I'd just leave them in auto all of the time. The rain sensing wipers are equally impressive. The rain sensing wipers on my wife's last two cars have been anything but automatic.

 

[bill-e]

I've had auto dimming lights for almost 7 years and I ever noticed them staying on too long. If anything the only thing I dont like about them is that they dic when traveling at slow speed like turning into a dark driveway when my eyes need the brights.