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Mercedes' Futuristic Headlights Shine Warning Symbols On the Road (gizmodo.com)
In its new high-end vehicles, Daimler says it will introduce programmable, "million-pixel" headlights that project warning symbols and driving tips on the road. "The technology, which Daimler calls Digital Light, was demoed as a concept ten years ago, but at the Geneva Motor Show it's finally being introduced as a feature that's 'expected' to be available on certain Mercedes-Maybach S-Class vehicles sometime this year," reports Gizmodo. From the report: Sitting alongside the vehicle's standard headlights are a pair of small monochrome projectors that each feature "a resolution of over one million pixels," Daimler claims, resulting in an "HD-quality" image being projected onto the road surface ahead of the vehicle. Using data from the car's onboard sensors, as well as traffic and obstacle data that GPS devices rely on, the headlights project symbols like a snowflake indicating slippery conditions ahead, a construction symbol reminding drivers to slow down for road workers, arrows for where to turn, and even simple white lines representing the size of your vehicle so you can immediately tell if you're able to squeeze into a narrow parking spot. The ability to selectively switch off pixels means the S-Class' headlights could help drivers avoid blinding oncoming vehicles or pedestrians, as onboard sensors detect faces and windshields and automatically dim the brightness in those areas.
I find it so cumbesome to fish out my phone to read texts, especially at highway speeds. It would be great if this feature will project incoming text messages. Also can it stream Netflix. I have seen the road many times, and there is no plot interest in the road or scenery. Would be great to have something interesting to watch other the road when I am driving.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Interesting idea in theory,
However the car is broadcasting data to the public, that an individual may not want to share. Lets say it is linked to the GPS and shows where to turn, for the most part that will be great, because it is like an enhanced reality display, except for the fact everyone else knows where you are going.
Or if you see the warning displayed and you failed to take the accurate action leaving to a traffic ticket, because you don't have the excuse you didn't know about the road condition.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Fewer and smaller cars. Invest into comfortable transport with a smaller overall footprint.
It's time that those industrial dinosaurs go out of business. They are costing us far too much.
Blinky lights is just a distraction.
Current regulations are in the shape of 'no more than 55W (assuming halogen and ignoring more efficient lighting options that would produce far more light at that power level), light bundled in shape X'.
As a result, modern headlight systems are usually fine when viewed from straight ahead, but become uncomfortably bright when viewed from an angle (encountering such a vehicle on a curvy road, or cresting a hill). All too often I can't see shit because of that.
I think most of it is just gimmicks except for the highlighting pedestrians and not dazzling other road users which are going to be a big improvement for road safety.
Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
"Hungry? Subway Restaurant ahead in 2.7 miles."
"Gasoline level 27%. Shell station ahead, take next left."
"Watch CBS prime time tonight for Survivor finale!"
Fuck that. Do not want. I'll need Adblock for my car.
Better idea would be to project it on the screen, augmented-reality style.
The whole 'it will be distracting' argument applies to both ideas, but at least this one will consistently not blind people.
Facial recognition provably isn't perfect, not even fucking close!
Make it color and I'll be impressed.
I'd like for more of you to stop driving cars, so there is less congestion for ME!!!
It will display warnings?
I wonder... Do they mean:
"Warning, I am going to yield"
or
"Warning, here comes an asshole who doesn't care about traffic regulations"?
This is really bizarre. I'm not sure why projecting onto the road is better than using tried-and-true technology like HUD (Heads up Display). Surely it would be better to project warnings etc. via HUD vs. onto the road? I have a HUD in my BMW and it is one of those technologies that I found genuinely useful and non-obtrusive.
For example, it shows turn by turn directions projected onto my windscreen, so I don't have to move my eyes or head. The location is just perfect and doesn't obstruct anything.
Would be great if we could understand the rationale Daimler used to project vs. HUD. I'm sure there's a reason, I just can't figure out what it would be.
Then if someone can hack it it, we can use them to project low resolution movies. Drive in movie theater anywhere!
Why this continued bullshit about "HD-quality"?
1 million pixels is just about VGA-quality.
I don't see this even working in snowy states. The sensors and projector will be blocked by snow and mud, no matter where you place them on the vehicle. I think the kind that reflect off the inside of the driver's side glass was probably all the technology we "needed".
If I can't see that it's snowing outside then I probably shouldn't be behind the wheel. Then again, if they could project a Bulls-Eye on that suspected terrorist, it may be worth a second look!
I don't know if it ever hit the market, but a few years ago there was supposed to be this laser projection bike light that would project a grid of dots on the ground in front of you so that you could see the shape of the terrain you were heading toward. That would be more useful than anything mentioned in the article apart from shutting off pixels for oncoming drivers.
We are taught to 'keep your eyes on the road' but this is not what that means. Anyway, it sounds like just one more unnecessary thing in the car that will cost a nice markup to fix.
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A piece of tape, or clip the wires.
Does a MB driver need all these hand holding features just to drive their cars? How much does all this fancy safety features add up in repair costs?
I mean if you've ever used projectors, you know they barely work on a reflective white surface in the dark. How in the hell is this going to work on asphalt? Oh right, it has to be so bright as to blind anybody coming at you over a hill.
for other drivers/pedestrians, but the info should use HUD. Doesn't Benz offer this as an option? I know GM, Lexus and Honda offer it. I imagine the patents GM filed when they first offered it have expired by now. Its been in their cars for 20 years or more. The current car I have offers nav directions on the HUD. Works great.
Mercedes drivers are already well known for finding new ways to do the stupid thing in the road. This extra distraction will only give them more opportunities. I am looking forward to the autonomous car era, if it is only because current Mercedes drivers will not be at the wheel.
Advertisements for hemorrhoid treatments; Amber Alerts; "Happy Birthday!" messages; strobe lights to accompany music streams; political adds; soft core porn; hard core porn; racial slurs; state laws deciding which slurs are traffic offenses; biblical verses; prohibitions on Arabic language headlight messages in Alabama; being fired for headlight crimes; going to court and claiming that your headlights were hacked by neo-Nazis..... and... Trump tweets.
I think I'll just drive in daylight and take Uber wearing a blindfold
So far not useful. What would be useful is to have a lidar or radar system that can actually detect deep potholes and deer, paint it with a laser, and use the headlight projectors to indicate where it will be and where you should move the car, assuming the car is not smart enough to avoid them itself. Car mountable projectors actually could be powerful enough to fully illuminate a deer but what happens in fog? The headlights could at least alert you to something the car can detect while keeping your eyes at the long distance focus.
Just think of all the emoticons that can be broadcast to other drivers: Driver is single, driver is getting a hand-job, driver isn't wearing a seat-belt, driver changes lanes without signalling, driver just spent 3 hours at a pub / white supremacist rally / Justin Beiber concert.
Some neat effects can be done projecting onto building and statue faces and then suddenly animating them. Imagine the possible panic attack road hazards one could get. Huge cracks opening in the earth with lava bubbling up. A large 16Tonne weight suddenly falling from the above. A wrecking ball swingin down the road towards your windshield. A motorcycle tumbling end over end tossed by the incredible hulk.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
These are really cool gadgets but it would be nice if the Germans went back to making cars that lasted half a million miles and were serviced more easily, cost be damned. The S-class W126 sedans were luxurious, also had gadgets, and most of those gadgets still worked at 200k miles. But I suppose that's not the lifecycle of a luxury car these days.
12:50 - press return.
and even simple white lines representing the size of your vehicle so you can immediately tell if you're able to squeeze into a narrow parking spot
So no more parking in two spots like an incompetent jackass?
Just wait until someone hacks this and displays anything they want to all the other cars around :)
Peon, Peon, Peon, Peon, Peon, Dog, Peon, Peon, Peon, Cop, Peon, Bob, Peon, Peon.....
We have laws regarding public address systems in vehicles, the ability to broadcast images on the road will probably be similarly regulated and this feature won't make it into American cars for the same reasons PA systems are banned in non-emergency vehicles.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
What makes you think this is the technology that will enable that, when they already have speakers and a wireless connection to your car and yet don't blast you with adverts against your will all day?
Warning Symbol: "Look out, someone who thinks they own the road and can drive like a maniac is coming" ;-)
and use the force.
Have gnu, will travel.
I can see this going horribly wrong. What if the arrow you are seeing on the pavement is being projected by the car next to you? Why not just a heads-up display for this sort of thing?
Have gnu, will travel.
I don't see the benefit of this over a HUD.
Projecting onto a road or highway makes perfect sense. I have often thought that a slab of asphalt or concrete (maybe even dirt or gravel) would make an ideal projection surface for my home theater.
It's a terrible idea to allow the owner of a motor vehicle to modify the road signs and symbols.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
I hope it can be set up to say, "Backoff asshole - stop tailgating."
Which brings up an interesting idea: How about posting a sign in a school area which says Speed Limit 100 MPH? Will the smart sensors and AI gear lookup my activities over the night, figure out how I painted that, and light up the road with an ultra bazillion-pixel projection that says: LOL ??? Or, will it (shudder) faithfully follow the sign? Or, launch a trunk-mounted missile to take out my zip code? :)