Adaptive Driving Beam, Thoughts?

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
By Dave9's standards we should be happy with circa 1920 electric headlamps because ya know after all we should only drive as fast as we can see.

Did they have electric lights then or were they fueled lamps?

Usually only one too if I recall correctly

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
By Dave9's standards we should be happy with circa 1920 electric headlamps because ya know after all we should only drive as fast as we can see.

Did they have electric lights then or were they fueled lamps?

Usually only one too if I recall correctly


Apparently electric were available around that time, but why stop at there? Maybe just use one of these new "modern" lenses from Corning?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Everyone forgets that incandescent lights slowly got dimmer over time. So slowly that you didn't realize it until you replaced one side and discovered what you were missing.

My 2001 Tundra and 1998 Accord sure did. Never failed, but pretty dim.

 

[Skippy722]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
By Dave9's standards we should be happy with circa 1920 electric headlamps because ya know after all we should only drive as fast as we can see.

Did they have electric lights then or were they fueled lamps?

Usually only one too if I recall correctly


Acetylene gas lamps, lets go all the way back! After all, if you want more safety from your headlights, you shouldn't be driving

 

[DallasTexas]

Have Adaptive bi-xenon headlights on my E class and love em. Occasionally have to drive wife's Toyota Sienna that has Halogen the lights feel like lantern light!

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
By Dave9's standards we should be happy with circa 1920 electric headlamps because ya know after all we should only drive as fast as we can see.

Back in the '80s I used to eat breakfast at a diner in my small town. Every day there was a table full of geezers opining about how the world was going to h*ll. Their answer to every automotive issue was to "slow down" or "don't press so hard on the foot feed." They hated every technological improvement developed after 1930.

 

[JohnG]

Quote
Have Adaptive bi-xenon headlights on my E class and love em. Occasionally have to drive wife's Toyota Sienna that has Halogen the lights feel like lantern light!


This^

My '18 E300 has the adaptive lights. It is amazing to see the cut off line! Shining on the garage door at night, the line is straight across, and goes from bright white to almost no illumination above the line, and perfectly level every time.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by JohnG
^

My '18 E300 has the adaptive lights. It is amazing to see the cut off line! Shining on the garage door at night, the line is straight across, and goes from bright white to almost no illumination above the line, and perfectly level every time.


Ditto for the adaptive xenons on my M235i and X1.
That said, the 7" Hella E-Codes/Osram Night Breaker combo I fitted to my Wrangler are excellent as well. The people who pine for the "good old days" of mediocre sealed beam lamps must have an extremely selective memory; I was installing Cibie or Hella E-Codes in every car I owned back in the '70s- having decent illumination trumped the risk of running lights that were technically illegal

 

[Pew]

Originally Posted by MCompact

Ditto for the adaptive xenons on my M235i and X1.


Ditto your ditto. My roommate's M235i's ADB headlights are pretty cool and their low beam throws light out a lot further than my brand new halogen Ultrastars.

Originally Posted by Dave9

Wrong. Anyone who can't drive at normal speeds safely with good old standard incan bulbs, in good condition, shouldn't be driving at night. However normal has everything to do with the conditions.

Since driving safely depends on driving no faster than you can see, it is exactly a matter of driving a little faster at night.


If that was the case, I'd be driving 40mph at night on any unlit highway.

 

[Dave_Mark]

Originally Posted by Pew
Ditto your ditto. My roommate's M235i's ADB headlights are pretty cool and their low beam throws light out a lot further than my brand new halogen Ultrastars.


Basically anything will perform better than Sylvania Silverstars--bulbs that can be described with just two words: overpriced and underperforming.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Originally Posted by jeff78
Yeah, HID's are a dead end. All of the development is in LED's because they're semiconductor devices and the envelope on these is constantly being pushed. And LED's give car designers great freedom in styling.

But in the long term it's all moot anyway.

In 50 years external lighting will no longer be necessary because cars will all be self driving.

And 50 years after that, cars will no longer be necessary because either we would simply digitize and transfer our consciousnesses to temporary host bodies at our destinations, or we would no longer exist because global warming.

All the predictions you stated will not be in the consumer market. It will not change that fast, none of those things. Maybe self driving limited interstate traffic, but you are sorely overestimating the cost of this.... If it's not happening in Japan, well, it just isn't going to be in the USA with cheap fuel for hundreds of years.

Yes the development of HID's is dead, the tech has matured, THAT is why you use it. LED's are being pushed but HID has very similar efficiency. True LED has more flexible design options, but it is still constrained to "aerodynamics" and I question what true savings there is by shrinking your headlight by one inch.... from what I"m seeing LED lamps are just as big as ever.

 

[jeff78]

Originally Posted by Vern_in_IL
All the predictions you stated will not be in the consumer market. It will not change that fast, none of those things. Maybe self driving limited interstate traffic, but you are sorely overestimating the cost of this....


I was being facetious.....thus the smiley.