
How Complex Modern Headlights Can Be - clouddrover
https://jalopnik.com/you-have-no-idea-how-insanely-complex-modern-headlights-1840509448
======
buro9
I've just got back from the Lake District in the UK where I've been driving a
2019 Range Rover Sport. I hired this vehicle just in case the weather
conditions demanded it and for driving roads like this:
[https://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/wrynose-
pass/](https://www.visitcumbria.com/amb/wrynose-pass/)

What I discovered though, was "Intelligent High Beam"... which was an
automatic head light mode that looked (from the driver perspective) like it
used an LCD matrix over the high beam. It would fade up from the normal beam,
flood the road, and then if a car was in front or approaching it would block
out the parts of the scene in which those vehicles were present.

It turns out it is this: [https://www.osram-
continental.com/en/products/smartrix.html](https://www.osram-
continental.com/en/products/smartrix.html)

It's something else to have full visibility of the sides of the road (where
sheep wandered freely) and still not be blinding anyone in front or oncoming,
and to not have to think about it at all. More than that, road signs were
singled out and side obstacles made visible... whilst not blinding anyone.

Within a couple of days I took this fully for granted, and not a single
vehicle we passed flashed their lights at us (which I'd expect if we'd blinded
anyone).

Now if I buy a car I'd like lights like this.

~~~
Ntrails
Growing up in rural England I learned to Drive at night with dipped lights.
Most of the roads are single track and the thing I damned well want to know is
if something is coming the other direction.

I actively control the high beams, raising and lowering in order to allow me
to see what's coming and maintaining visibility on the road as appropriate.
Automatics just assume you want all the light all the time bar when someone
elses lights are already there.

~~~
buro9
The lights didn't prevent or reduce that ability.

~~~
Ntrails
Of _course_ they do. Your ability to see the high tips of light (not a great
phrasing, can't think of a better wording) from something around the corner is
predicated on it being dark up there. If your own lights are on high, then it
isn't and you simply cannot distinguish as early (and this especially applies
if the other driver has dipped lights).

~~~
chrisseaton
I can’t really follow your argument. You can’t see people coming when there is
more light? So in your mind visibility is worst in full daylight?

~~~
OkGoDoIt
I think the parents is saying it’s harder to see an oncoming car’s headlights
if the entire scene is lit more brightly.

------
uptown
Perhaps it's just my eyes getting older, or changes to headlight tech and/or
car design is a contributing factor, but modern headlights at night seem more
blinding than I ever remember them being in the past.

~~~
rb808
The other thing I've noticed is emergency vehicles flashing lights are getting
much brighter. Sometimes flashing police lights are so intense I feel blinded.

~~~
MS90
Yeah, they definitely have with the newer LED light bars compared to the old
ones with bulbs. Police in my area usually turn half of them off (to where
only the very edges of the light bar are flashing, the middle lights are off)
once they pull someone over or stop at an accident scene. I feel like
otherwise they'd just cause more wrecks due to blindness.

------
GistNoesis
While building my vision-based following robot, I encountered a quite funny
phenomenon with its headlights.

The robot uses led strips to highlight its path when it detects that the
luminosity from the camera is not enough using simple PID control loop. In
normal situation, it is working as intended making the robot more robust to
illuminations change.

But every time the robot crashes into an object or wall, it flashes its
headlights like if it is trying to call for attention. What is happening is
when it crashes the objects are usually really close to both the leds and the
camera so suddenly it hide exterior light and it's very dark for the camera so
the robot turns the leds on, but because the objects are so close a lot of
light is reflected back and suddenly it's too bright so it turns the leds off
and the cycle repeat : My "auto-exposure" control loop couldn't keep up and is
no longer stable.

The robot had inadvertently acquired a very crude active-light obstacle
avoidance / distance sensing system. To add to the complexity of modern
headlights, you can now envision that to efficiently exploit this sensor you
can plug in a neural network to actively control the headlights to give itself
a sense of depth perception. Add multiple robots into the mix and let them
evolve a headlight communication strategy/protocol... Here was a little fun
dose of complexity to tingle your light-bulb...

~~~
MS90
That would certainly be something, especially if we can see car pricing become
something like this:

Boring sedan, MSRP $25,000, Boring sedan (with AI headlight option), MSRP
$1,750,000

------
lnanek2
>> Lamps to be steady-burning

>...which effectively rules out dynamic-matrix light systems like Porsche
uses.

Good! I'm constantly getting flashed by smart headlights and auto-leveling
systems that simply don't work well. I wish we could go back to simple lights
that work and don't constantly flash me every time another driver hits a bump
or their smart algorithms screw up.

~~~
magduf
It probably isn't "smart" headlights that are flashing you on bumps, those are
normal and perfectly "dumb" lights. The problem is that modern headlights are
designed to direct much more light downwards, so that you can see the road,
and less light upwards, so you don't blind oncoming drivers or waste light
directing it into empty space (you need some to see vehicles and obstacles
straight ahead of course, but you need more pointed downwards).

When the car hits a bump, or crests a hill, then "downwards" becomes pointed
directly at oncoming traffic. If anything, quick-reacting "smart" lights would
be more helpful here.

Generally, when people like you complain about this stuff, what you're really
asking for is for everyone to go back to extremely low-output headlights where
you couldn't see almost anything at night. I don't see how that's an
improvement.

~~~
parsimo2010
Implying that someone doesn't understand the what they are talking about is a
little unfair. Headlight brightness is becoming a problem.

Those "smart" headlights definitely do not react correctly/fast enough to
prevent blinding someone when they drive over a bump or crest a hill- which
are things that are almost guaranteed to happen multiple times whenever
someone goes driving. Adding the current level of smarts to a headlight does
not fix the issue with brightness.

I think we've reached (or are very near) the point where a brighter headlight
won't give you as much additional safety as they degrade the safety of
oncoming traffic. It's cool for me to have lights that are brighter than the
sun, but if oncoming traffic is blinded and hits something- maybe not me, they
could be blind for several seconds after I've passed them and they hit a deer
or something- then the overall effect is that my brighter headlights made the
roads less safe. I have no personal incentive to get dimmer lights, but
society as a whole has an incentive to find the sweet spot where lights are
bright enough to drive at night and not endanger other people.

~~~
zionic
IMO it's fairly obvious the GP doesn't know what they're talking about. "Dumb"
headlights will flash you on bumps and _can 't_ react. Smart headlights are at
least supposed to react and _might_ not react fast enough.

------
michaelt
I got an airport transfer in a car with smart headlights a few weeks ago.

It was pretty neat - when the road was quiet it lit the road quite broadly,
but when there was oncoming traffic it would deactivate the 'pixels' that
could have dazzled the oncoming driver. I also got the impression it cast
extra light at road signs (although maybe the route I was driven just had very
well lit signs)

My country gets dark at 4pm at this time of year, so driving in rural areas
involves a lot of switching between main beam and dip beam - and getting mad
at oncoming drivers who don't switch early enough. So these smart headlights
seem like a good thing!

~~~
gdrulia
While I bet they work brilliantly for the driver of the car, for the oncoming
traffic it's really annoying. It leaves light spots in my eyes every time I
drive in the night and encounter cars with such headlights, as it doesn't
deactivate those 'pixels' quick enough for me not to notice. Overall it might
be an improvement, but it depends on your situation.

As for extra light at road signs, I believe I've read somewhere that newish
signs have ability to reflect near ultraviolet as visible light, and this
makes them extra reflective for headlights with ultraviolet range, more so
then what you would expect for the given visible light that you see. Although
I'm no expert in this and not sure if that actually the reason for why some
signs popout so much.

~~~
dr_orpheus
Yes, lots of modern road signs that are put in have a flourescent coating on
them. [1]

[1] [https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/road-safety-us/resources/road-
tr...](https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/road-safety-us/resources/road-
transportation-safety-center-blog/full-story/~/fluorescent-traffic-signs-
explained/?storyid=e33bd3e0-36b0-44c0-b416-1b87324b2755)

------
blakesterz
Some of this stuff isn't available in the US yet, I caught this...

"Again, it’s worth mentioning that here in America, a land comprehensively
crisscrossed with thousands of miles of dark back roads and a whole nation’s
worth of wandering deer, this technology is bafflingly illegal."

Apparently they're working on it, here's something from last year that says
"coming soon"...

[https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/10/nhtsa-proposes-
new...](https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/10/nhtsa-proposes-new-
headlight-rules-automakers-ready-to-rock/)

"One one hand, this proposed change should help lousy drivers from burning out
your retinas on a lonesome country road. But, by the same token, you may no
longer have the delicious opportunity to blast them with the brights once
they’re within a few feet of your car to let them know to lower those damned
high beams."

------
macNchz
Despite all the innovation in the headlights themselves, it seems that a
significant portion of drivers these days can’t seem to remember to turn them
on. I am constantly trying to get cars in front of me on the highways near NYC
to realize their lights are off at night. It’s an interesting study in UX, I
think: [https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/heres-why-so-many-
cars-d...](https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/heres-why-so-many-cars-drive-
around-their-headlights-night-265587)

~~~
rob74
Fortunately (at least where I'm living) automatic headlights are already more
widespread than the fancy "matrix-lighting" headlights, for the simple reason
that a light sensor on the windshield is cheaper than two state-of-the-art
headlights. But, I confess, if anybody would move the switch from "Auto" to
"Off" on my car, I might join the people driving without lights for some time
before I would notice it...

~~~
lagadu
I'm like that too. Furthermore I have a story about that: A couple months ago
I found myself driving a car that didn't have automatic windshield wipers. I
drove in the rain for a couple of minutes without turning them on and only
realized what was happening by the time I asked myself "why can't I see
anything?".

------
durnygbur
I hope the bright rectangle and other dynamic features will not blind me when
having this insanely complex headlights behing my back, or heading me from the
left side, or... actually the stricter road regulations regarding headlights
in US are not a bad thing at all.

------
dsfyu404ed
Start counting up all the different components along with their various
failure modes and you quickly realize these are not systems you want to be
responsible for keeping in working order much beyond its designed lifespan.

------
davidmurdoch
This is one of the reasons I love my 20 year old car.

My wife's 10 year old car's headlight bulb went out. I had to remove the front
bumper to get the headlight out to get to the bulb. When I opened the back of
the headlight there were bits of colored plastic all over; the insulation on
the dozens of wires inside had dried up, cracked, and were flaking off -
probably do to the motion of the adaptive lamps, exposing the bare wires. If
any of these bare wires shorted out it could easily have started a fire.

Both headlights were like this.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
>If any of these bare wires shorted out it could easily have started a fire.

You misspelled "blown a fuse". Except for the ~1ft run from the battery to
fuse box basically everything in a modern vehicle has a fuse preventing it
from catching on fire.

~~~
jdsully
Its quite possible for even fused circuits to cause fires. If there is a high
resistance short then it will heat up without drawing enough current to trip
the fuse or breaker.

I don't know how common this is in cars, but it is quite common in household
wiring. It was especially problematic with aluminum wiring used in the 70s but
can happen even in copper circuits.

------
pierrebai
How blinding modern headlights can be.

My neighbour onthe other side of the street regularly blinds us in teh kitchen
when parking in his driveway. It doesn't help that white or blue is the new
default color for new headlights.

------
cj
Slightly off topic:

But to anyone with a new(ish) car: do you constantly get people flashing their
brights at you in protest of your "modern" headlights being an order of
magnitude more blinding than old headlights?

~~~
black6
In my older car I constantly flash other people with "modern" headlights
believing the high-beams to be on, when, in fact, it is the low-beams which
are blinding me.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
The increasingly tall front bodywork on which the headlights are located
certainly isn't helping.

~~~
black6
And, at least where I live, the need for the locals to put lift kits on trucks
without some downward adjustment of their headlamps.

------
pure-awesome
This seems so much more complex than it needs to be. Basic solutions are
consistent, predictable, reliable, cheap, repairable, replaceable.

Surely there are simpler solutions to the "blinding headlights" problem?

~~~
grumple
That was already mentioned in the article - you turn them off. Short of that,
no, you’ll have to have headlights that direct themselves away from cars.

You could also have some auto-tint on windshields, or drive using some
advanced heads up display instead of using your vision directly.

~~~
pure-awesome
Sorry, I don't completely follow. What was mentioned? That there are no
simpler solutions to blinding headlights?

The article is very positive about these complex headlights - the only
negative mentioned is the price.

I, on the other hand, am quite doubtful about them. There is so much you have
to get right to have them run consistently. Such a complex piece of equipment
is more likely to break or go wrong in some way, or e.g. perhaps misjudge the
wrong thing as being a car and so switch off at an inappropriate time. Is
there a manual override, at least?

GPS that takes into account road curvature? That doesn't sound sufficiently
fast and accurate.

I'll admit I am ignorant of the tech. It is entirely possible this has all
been taken into account, and it works well, and the risk/benefit does work
out. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be rolling it out.

My experience with complex computerised systems and software, including in
cars, leads me to be distrustful. And there are innumerable instances of
advanced technological systems being peddled where the good old fashioned
manual way just works better. I say this not as an old Luddite, but as a
relatively young software developer.

But hey, reliable software can be built, and has shown itself to be useful in
many instances.

I'd need to do more investigation to come to a proper conclusion, but my first
instinct is to be doubtful.

EDIT: They don't need to work perfectly. The main question is just, do they
work better than humans on average and when it's important?

------
jdsully
I'd be worried about what happens to the GPS headlights when the map data gets
out of date. On my car the out of date maps are now quite noticeable.

~~~
MS90
Or, say you come up on the scene of an accident where a car has gone off the
road at night. You pull your car off the road to illuminate the scene of the
accident with your headlights but they stubbornly refuse, turning all the way
to max deflection one way or another in an attempt to point at the road.

About a month ago I came upon this exact scenario and had to use my headlights
to light up the wreck. Wouldn't have been great if they weren't cooperating.

Though I'm sure (I hope) there'd be a way to disable the GPS tracking.

------
neuralRiot
These are just another “feature” to compensate for inattentive drivers, like
adaptive cruise control, auto emergency brake, lane assist and so on, the
problem is that the less a driver has to pay attention to, the more bored and
distracted will be.

~~~
kcolford
Except if a driver is performing the same task over and over then they will
eventually get bored of it as well, leading to the same distracted end result.

~~~
neuralRiot
Anyone driving a manual transmission can tell you that an automatic makes you
feel bored and less “connected” to the car and road, now you don’t need even
to pay attention to oncoming traffic to lower your lights or even brake. Who’s
gonna pay less attention?

------
linuxftw
More technology nobody asked for driving up the price of automobiles. We can
expect the 'safety' lobby to ensure this tech is mandatory in all new
vehicles, driving up the baseline price of automobiles once again.

------
clouddrover
Audi's latest headlights are essentially projectors and fast enough to run
animations:

[https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/19/audi-e-tron-headlight-
te...](https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/19/audi-e-tron-headlight-tech/)

~~~
ken
Subtitle: "But, we won’t get it in the US."

It's amazing to me that carmakers can introduce features on headlights "so as
not to blind oncoming drivers" \-- as if they know they've been blinding us
for years. It also suggests these headlights might not have the functionality
to keep from blinding drivers _ahead of them_. My rear view mirror has a
dimming switch, but my side mirrors don't.

I would avoid driving at night entirely if I could, but in the winter that's
simply not feasible. What am I supposed to do when traffic blinds me? Is it
legal to wear an auto-dimming welding hood behind the wheel?

~~~
cesarb
> My rear view mirror has a dimming switch, but my side mirrors don't.

Aren't side mirrors being replaced by cameras?

~~~
black6
Instead of a piece of silvered glass which requires no power input and always
works? K.I.S.S.

------
DoctorOetker
Is there a reason headlights and windshields dont use the properties of
circular polarized light? reflections reverse the circular polarization state.

standardize the polarization filter on windshields and headlights, and
unreflected direct light (from other cars) can be filtered out, while softer
diffuse single reflections (from both your own headlights and those of others
lighting targets like road etc) pass through the windshield...

For cyclists and pedestrians one could make "night glasses" that do the same
as the windshields... and similar bicycle headlights with circularly polarized
light

------
thrower123
I'm really sick of people taking simple technology that worked well and Rube
Goldberging it up into complicated, non-serviceable garbage. I'm seriously
considering buying a rebuilt automobile from the 80s or 90s to avoid this kind
of crap - they are surprisingly cheap at auction for anything that's not super
popular.

Also, I'm still baffled that the left-foot stomp pedal for switching between
low and high beam settings on headlights went away in favor of yet another
thing hanging off the steering wheel. Especially in automatics where you
aren't using your clutch foot anyway.

------
robohoe
No wonder most headlights cost up to (or even more in some cases) $2000.

~~~
NightlyDev
Lazerlights are freaking expensive. Well above $10k was normal a few years
ago.

------
sys_64738
K.I.S.S.

Do they never learn?

------
dajohnson89
I don't miss owning (maintaining) a car.

~~~
dingaling
We have a ten-year-old car and the only complexity in the headlamps is a
ratchet to adjust vertical and horizontal axes whilst in a garage.

More modern cars are becoming so complex so quickly that I am reluctant to
embrace one even if full EV. Car reviews that state "packed full of
technology" are like a warning sign to stay clear.

~~~
bluGill
> More modern cars are becoming so complex so quickly that I am reluctant to
> embrace one [snip]. Car reviews that state "packed full of technology" are
> like a warning sign to stay clear.

People have been saying that since that 1980s at least. Today cars are more
reliable than ever, and complexity is part of how they got there.

~~~
everdrive
These are two different issues. A computer than maintains engine timing,
airflow, fuel flow, etc can make a car much more efficient and reliable. It
makes sense for that to be complex. But there's no reason things link
headlights need to be complex. They should be cheap and simple. Or, at a
minimum, cheap and simple options should exist in the consumer space.

~~~
davewritescode
There is a reason they’re complex. Being able to see where you’re going is
literally the most important safety system in your car. It’s all pointless if
it’s blinding the person coming at you.

I’d argue that non-luxury car makers have been dragged kicking and screaming
into modernity by the NIHS which has started dinging automakers safety ratings
for including substandard lights in their base cars and making you pay for
modern lights.

If you haven’t driven a car with auto high beams it’s hard to explain what a
difference they make.

------
aphit
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6ORbVApjY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6ORbVApjY)

~~~
ce4
You may want to add some description. Links without any surrounding text are
not very helpful.

