Brighter Headlights Are Coming

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Some excerpts from a June 2019 article in the Detroit Free Press:

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...eadlights-car-adb-high-beams/1428160001/

Quote
Brighter, no glare headlights are coming. Here's what we know:

...The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets standards for vehicle safety, is working on a rules for a new technology called adaptive driving beam or ADB lights. Automakers and suppliers are waiting impatiently to offer the superior systems they already sell in much of the world...

...ADB lights combine three features that are innovative, but have been proven driving millions of miles in heavily regulated, safety conscious markets.
They consist of:

A. Arrays of many LED lights
B. Full-time high beams
C. Systems to direct light away from other drivers' eyes and toward street signs, or potential obstacles like a deer by the side of the road.

"We're talking about a safety system with provable benefits," Morgan [senior vice president for global product development at lighting supplier Varroc] said. "We have reams of data from Europe, but we don't know when it'll be legal in the U.S. It's a huge shame."

The latest ADB lights use digital cameras to detect oncoming vehicles, street signs, etc. Software turns selected LEDs on or off, keeping light out of oncoming drivers' eyes and illuminating signs, pedestrians, detours, etc....


Other up and coming technologies include:
Lasers to supplement LED high beams, increasing the range of headlights up to 50%

Micro mirrors on LED chips, which could allow personalized signature lights and more.

Personalized and driver-programmable lighting will require more regulation, Morgan said, "We don't want to turn the roads into discotheques."...


...The same systems that allow ADB to avoid drivers' eyes should be able to adjust automatically for towing...

...Improvements in lightweight materials for lenses is reducing the likelihood of clouding and fogging over time....



The first sentence quoted above is inaccurate: "Brighter, no glare headlights are coming." ADB will have some glare, at levels that are typical for traditional low beam headlights. ADB will have low beam levels of glare for oncoming traffic, but with high beam levels of illumination as seen from the driver's seat.
 
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Originally Posted by 2010Civic
More expensive headlights are coming...

Not being able to change a $5-10 bulb when it goes out is insane.


My 9011 halogens are $22.47 each right now. All depends what you want... I work nights, if they offered a 300 with ADB I would have gladly paid the extra cost for them.
 
It should have said "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finally approves for US drIvers what other developed nations have already been using"

I like how they make it appear that this is new technology. These ADB headlights have been used in Europe for some time, apparent under "subjective" test standards.
 
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
More expensive headlights are coming...

Not being able to change a $5-10 bulb when it goes out is insane.


And if they are LEDs with million hour lifetimes, it might not be relevant anyway.
 
Originally Posted by JHZR2
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
More expensive headlights are coming...

Not being able to change a $5-10 bulb when it goes out is insane.


And if they are LEDs with million hour lifetimes, it might not be relevant anyway.


LEDs can definitely go out. I have seen several late model Accords with burn
 
Originally Posted by JHZR2
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
More expensive headlights are coming...

Not being able to change a $5-10 bulb when it goes out is insane.


And if they are LEDs with million hour lifetimes, it might not be relevant anyway.


LEDs can definitely go out. I have seen several late model Accords with burned out LED headlights. Almost $1000 a headlight.
 
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
LEDs can definitely go out. I have seen several late model Accords with burned out LED headlights. Almost $1000 a headlight.

BINGO....this is the reality that the industry refuses to acknowledge, I've seen countless LED matrix headlamps, tail lamps, traffic lights, ect all burn out in months or maybe
a year or so....NOTHING like the supposed endless life they are supposed to have.

No way do I want to be stuck with a failed LED unit that costs 1,000$ to replace. Nope, no thanks, no way, no how.
 
Considering the potential repair costs, I just don't see the cost/benefit here. After tossing all this technology into modernizing headlamps, how much improvement will there be?
 
Originally Posted by gfh77665
Recipe for road rage.


The current reality of illegal LED retrofit headlight bulbs is a recipe for road rage, as are LED light bars being used in traffic.
 
Originally Posted by 2010Civic
More expensive headlights are coming...

Not being able to change a $5-10 bulb when it goes out is insane.


Expensive headlights have been around a long while. My 2008 Mercedes E-350 has $1500 list price bixenon headlamps. Usually the bulb alone is about $200 at the dealer but online the bulbs are still $50-$100 for real Xenon bulbs from a reputable manufacturer. I think I'm still on the original bulbs and my active curve illumination where the beam swivels up to 12 degrees left or right still works fine.
 
This tech isn't meant for the cost conscious "what will I pay when it breaks?!" crowd. Until the tech comes way way way down in price, ADB headlights will be on higher end vehicles/trim levels. There will definitely be more "normal" LED headlights though... gotta eek out that extra 0.001mpg somehow.
 
Look on youtube for Mercedes E-Class multibeam led. It already exists. And I remember reading something about the cost to replace those lights if the vehicle gets front end damage and it was way more than $1,000
 
https://newsroom.aaa.com/2019/04/research-european-headlight-technology-us-low-beam-safety/

Quote
...ORLANDO, Fla. (Apr. 16, 2019) - Driving at night carries the highest fatality rate for both drivers and pedestrians but could be made safer by headlight technology already on the roads in Europe and Canada. New research from AAA found that European vehicles equipped with adaptive driving beam headlights (ADB) increase roadway lighting by as much as 86 percent when compared to U.S. low beam headlights. AAA believes this technology, not presently allowed by U.S. standards, is the first real solution to providing more light for drivers at night and AAA supports changes in the law to allow ADB to be used to its full capability.

..."Driving at night doesn't have to be such a risky undertaking for Americans," said John Nielsen, managing director of Automotive Engineering and Repair, AAA. "The technology not only exists but is being used in other parts of the world to effectively provide the amount of light needed to keep drivers and pedestrians safer."

...With ADB, the high beams are always on and when another vehicle is detected, that area is shaded to prevent glare that would otherwise interfere with the other driver's field of vision.
 
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