Slashdot Mirror
CES: Laser Headlights Edge Closer To Real-World Highways
jeffb (2.718) writes "Audi will display laser-headlight technology on a concept car at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, joining BMW, whose plug-in hybrid should reach production in 2014. A November article on optics.org describes the technology in more detail. This approach does not scan or project a 'laser beam' from the car; instead, it uses blue lasers as highly efficient light emitters, and focuses their light onto a yellow phosphor, producing an extremely intense and compact white light source and then forming that light into a conventional headlamp beam. The beam isn't coherent or point-sourced, so it won't produce the 'speckling' interference effects of direct laser illumination, and it won't pose specular-reflection hazards. It's just a very bright and very well-controlled beam of normal white light.
Now, to make the meme complete, we need a car model named "shark".
Awesome. I drive a regular-sized car, and at night the SUVs are already a pain in the ass with their headlights being above the back end of my car, aimed right at my rear view mirror. And soon enough they'll be even stronger? Delightful.
Wonder how much this is going to cost and how much a replacement costs when it burns out. I'd love an Audi but they don't seem to score high on reliability.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
These need to be regulated more strongly. In my country, at least, the high-intensity headlights used in late-model luxury cars like Audis are too bright. 'Normal' mode is as bright, or brighter, than high-beams. In short, they blind other drivers.
Looking at TFA, it doesn't look like these will be any better:
As with BMW's lights the laser diodes are tiny in size, only a few microns across, but the light they output is incredibly powerful--the beam pattern stretches half a kilometer, or just under a third of a mile. That's around twice the range and three times the luminosity of the firm's already-powerful LED lights.
The light output of low-beam headlights needs to be regulated more strongly.
Awesome. So now all those assholes in luxury cars can have even brighter headlights to blind me in my mirrors.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
The primary advantage seems to be that it improves visibility in foggy conditions.
The secondary advantage is that if you remove your headlight covers, you can light the car in front of you on fire with the touch of a button.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Not so fast, it also effectively more than double your lights range.
So the fuckwads can blind people at twice the range.
It's so strange. I didn't realize that lighting was such a problem.
Keep making the lights stronger, and everyone will have to make them stronger. The iris will just close down more, and no gain, only less seeing ability after the onslought of light goes away.
in addition, these highly focused headlights were apparently designed for flatlanders. Nothing is more fun than being followed by someone with these very bright, very focused headlamps. As height differences occur between vehicles, you sometimes get treated to something similar to getting the highbeams flashed at you. Hundreds of times. So you end up moving the rearview and side mirrors out of the way.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
First OEM cars DONT BLIND PEOPLE. It's the dipshits that own hondas and pickup trucks that do aftermarket HID retrofits from ebay that blind people. REal stuff doesnt do that.
So if you see someone's car that blinds you, that person themselves is a complete moron that did that on purpose. I imported the Honda Civic real HID assemblies tha tyou can not get in the USA and installed them on my Commuter 2007 civic. I have 3X the light on the road and a severe shutter cut off that makes it so that oncoming traffic actually sees DIMMER headlights than a stock car, while I can see further than most other cars with their high beams on.
The headlight assemblies cost me $1500, more than the value of the POS ricer cars with the blue headlights you see on the road. Why did I do this upgrade? I drive close to 2500 miles a month in the dark, so I need to see better than the rest of you.
Stock US cars out drive the headlights at 50mph. In order to safely drive at 70 on the highway you need to do real upgrades.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
BULLSHIT. This is a lie you tell yourself to justify what you did to your car.
Stock Audi's, BMW's and more are all blinding other car drivers. In an urban environment the HID lights are somewhat balanced by the ambient lighting and several-per-block streetlights; in a suburban or highway environment the reduced frequency of streetlights makes their giant light contrast more dangerous because the eye spends more time adjusting and readjusting between dark and blindingly bright.
It's much worse for car drivers when these are on SUVs or trucks. Even in the rare cases when the lights are adjusted for those vehicle's increased heights, that's no help when the assholes pull up behind you at a light.
Bullshit indeed, Captain Clueless AC.
HID-equipped cars don't use traditional aiming lenses. They use a projector ball in front of the bulb which shapes the light emitted. Additionally, between the bulb and the projector there's a metal cut-off plate that prevents light from being thrown upwards. While HIDs typically emit about three times as many lumens, virtually none of it is permitted to aim towards oncoming traffic.
The point Lumpy was making is that proper projector housings cost serious money while a set of HID bulbs and inverters cost in the realm of $50. Yes, many, many ricer idiots retrofit HIDs into their cars unsafely by keeping their lens-based housings. Which means... three times as much light in oncoming traffic.
Now you know, which should help you to stop being uneducated. Or you WOULD know if you'd not posted AC and got a nice notification someone replied to you.
"Oh no... he found the
Oh, you want to know why your HID kit isn't available in the USA? It FAILS DOT SAFETY REGULATIONS BECAUSE OF THE SEVERE AMOUNT OF BLUE LIGHT EMITTED.
You do realize that DOT regulations (not laws, just guidelines which most states adopt in their vehicle code) REQUIRE light to be thrown upwards for overhead street sign illumination. The euro-spec headlights have a much sharper horizontal cutoff which while not passing US DOT standards, throw much less light above horizontal into oncoming drivers eyes.
You are correct that DOT specifies chromatic limits for "white" headlights, but that range is pretty wide. http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=571.108.
The cheap aftermarket HID retrofit kits that place an HID bulb inthe stock housing are dangerous because they have such a horrible light pattern that throws a lot of dazzling light into oncoming drivers faces. They are illegal in most of Europe. They are also illegal in most of the US states, although I've never actually heard of someone getting a ticket - just failing a safety inspection.
Two: what are you driving? I've got a... car. With the cut-offs in my HID projectors, 100% of my light emission is at or below the bumper level of a car in front of me. Even were I in an SUV, I'd be getting your trunk deck. Excluding anyone driving a monster truck, proper HID projectors aren't causing your problem. Unless you're driving a skateboard. Laying down.
Lots of arguing going on but the simple fact is that a very large percentage of lights on cars on the streets these days are entirely too bright. I don't really care if their high beams are on, their lights are poorly adjusted, or if their lights are improperly installed they are too bright and it is dangerous and extremely unpleasant. And regardless, even when adjusted and installed properly and not on high beams all it takes is going over a slight rise and presto blinding lights that are way too bright are shining in my eyes.
Laser lights will significantly compound this problem. They should not be allowed. I honestly believe that we should ban HID lights and go back to 55W halogens being the brightest lights available.
-- QED
I don't think it's assholicness. In my observation, it's some kind of herd instinct, to not be 'left behind'.
I say this because I was passenger/trainer with a new driver who was trying extra hard to be road-polite, yet when someone tried to pass her (even on a 4-lane!), she'd unconsciously speed up -- and she didn't notice she was doing so until I pointed it out. I knew her well enough to know it was NOT intentional.
Most drivers don't have someone watching their every move to bitchslap this behavior, so they just unconsciously do it -- and since they don't even notice themselves doing it, would swear up and down they did no such thing. You don't get anywhere telling these people they're assholes. You get further telling 'em to watch their speedometer better, so they learn to be aware of these unintentional behaviors.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?