Building a Better High Beam

One everyday driving danger is high-beam headlight glare. As you’re likely aware, if an oncoming driver chooses visibility over courtesy, the result can be a dangerous loss of vision. Glare is considered a major reason why the traffic fatality rate is three times higher at night.

Now, researchers might have found a solution to this problem. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has developed a high beam that can detect oncoming cars and dim the portion of light that reaches the other driving lane. That means the onus would no longer be on the driver to remember to flick the high beams off every time a car passes in the other direction.

The $890,000 study was funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has actively sought out research that can combat the issue of distracting headlight glare in an effort to lower that nighttime accident rate.

No word yet on how soon we might see these smart high beams in production vehicles.

Safer High-Beam Headlights Recommended (Detroit News)

Comments

A similar feature is available on BMW, MB, and Lexus already. But the high beams will just automatically turn on and off when needed instead of dimming. So who just wasted 900k?

OK, let's not give credit where credit isn't due. Cadillac first had the auto-dim feature many years before any of the imports did.

Teach drivers how to be courteous and you wouldn't need technology to do what the driver should already be doing.

there are plenty of people on the road who either don't know their high beams are on, or don't give a hoot, because when i flash my lights to remind them, they don't do anything. of course there are those who don't bother with turning their lights on at all, mostly in the well-lit city.

people should not be allowed to keep their high beams on continuously. there should be reminder beeps or auto-low-beam feature required. people who drive with their high beams on continuously should get their eyes checked.

My 2005 Jeep GC has this feature to turn the high beams on and off automatically, for on-coming cars and for following another car. It'll also dim the high beams to match the ambient light, if driving at dawn or dusk.

How about a better headlight standard?
American headlights are built to SAE (society automotive engineers), glare is BUILT into the design.
European headlights are designed to ECE (economic community european), no glare inherent to the design.

If the oncoming traffic happens to forget they have their high-beams on, if you give a 'toot' of ECE high beams, the oncoming vehicle will most assuredly turn off theirs.

How about just look at the right shoulder like we were taught in driving schools?
By switching off the high beams suddenly, we might miss something really dangerous popping out in front of us because our eyes need time to adjust to the dimmer light.

My grandpa's '85 Towncar had autodimming. Way to be cutting edge! (Sure, it didn't work that great, but it helped.)

Yup, the '50s Caddy Autronic Eye, I think it was called. Just a photocell and a relay. As has been noted, the SAE standards are amazingly wrong, considering that the problems are common and very widespread. The basic deal is that just measuring the light total power and distribution doesn't take into account that the human eye, not a light meter is the receptor. Thus, they allow headlights (xenon and similar small area sources) that represent enormous intensity spots on the retina. That's why those upmarket cars are so blinding, but legal. I think their drivers like it that way, but really, this is a matter for regulation.

"How about just look at the right shoulder like we were taught in driving schools?"

I was in an accident partially b/c of this habit before. It could lead you to an accident if the car in front of you makes a sudden break (like in my case).