Auto high-beams

Kuros said:
Yeah, it's the problem of reliance on technology.

I remember my friend reversing into and hitting his garage with a hire car. Was waiting for it to start beeping with the reversing sensors than actually look round to see what's behind him.
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I have also noticed on misty days, large numbers of unlit modern cars driving around because it is too light to trigger the auto headlights.
 
Entai said:
No matter how fast the reaction of these systems they will by design be too slow.

By definition they have to see the oncoming lights to react to them, and by seeing them it is already too late.

The system could be instantaneous and react in microseconds to seeing the oncoming lights, but even then it will be too slow.

An alert thoughtful considerate human will dip their lights before seeing the actual oncoming lights.

Just by seeing the faint glow on hedges or trees around the bend ahead or over the crest, a human will dip their lights.

When a system can replicate that I will use it until then it immediately gets turned off the moment I get into a car fitted with the function.
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This, 100%.
 
Had to disable mine due to driving on country lanes and people being impatient with them auto dipping even if there's a good amount of distance between us, they auto dip when the approaching car is closer.

Mine seem to work great on dual carriageway or motorways but any other road type they aren't as quick as newer cars, granted my car is 6 years old now.
 
Orionaut said:
I question the virtue of headlights at all in well street-lit areas

Bright sidelights are sufficient, anything more than that is distracting.
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I'd never drive on sidelights, they're too dim (dimmer than DRLs) and if you're the one person out of 10 who decides to use them you're going to be less visible than the other 9.

ianh said:
Auto Wipers - because car manufacturers think we're too thick to switch on the wipers when it rains.
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Auto wipers - because adjusting the speed of them constantly in intermittent rain or reacting to when a passing vehicle splashes up water is annoying and I'd rather the car did it for me.
 
TheVoice said:
I'd never drive on sidelights, they're too dim (dimmer than DRLs) and if you're the one person out of 10 who decides to use them you're going to be less visible than the other 9.
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I do not disagree, "Standard" front sidelights are too dim for what I suggest. However, the old Volvo 240 front DLR was about right for street lit urban driving (21W IIRC)

That is why I was mentioning Dim-Dip WRT cars not fitted with 21w DLR.

Dipped headlights in urban areas are not necesary to see where you are going. all you need is light taht are bright enough so that other people can see you reliably.

Anything brighter than this is a distraction.

Consider. "North" there is a line of stationary traffic, all with dipped headlights.

"South" is clear and traffic is moving freely.

There are pedestrians attempting to cross the road from the "North" side. Unfortunately, they are invisible to the "south" drivers because the "South" drivers are dazzled by the endless stream of dipped headlights shining in their faces.

"Bright" sidelights make so much more sense.
 
Entai said:
Rubbish.

The more "auto" this that and the other fitted the less attention people pay to actually driving.

Look at the current Tesla's, with auto steer, and auto drive, and the amount of near misses and the couple of fatal accidents that have happened because people rely on it all too much, and stop paying attention and concentrating on actually driving.
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I take your rubbish and call yours piffle!

There is a large difference from relying on auto lights/wipers and relying on "autopilot" (feature that Tesla has) where the car drives itself....

Real life example - I was driving quite late at night after a long day and was about 5 hours into the 6 hour drive home... Not realising how tired I actually was, the lane keeping aid was what "nudged" me back to reality via a vibrating wheel and made me realise and then take a break. Without it, I'd have probably hit a barrier or hard shoulder...
 
ianh said:
Auto High Beams - because car manufacturers think we're too thick to work out when to dip our lights.
Auto Lights - because car manufacturers think we're too thick to switch on lights when it's dark.
Auto Wipers - because car manufacturers think we're too thick to switch on the wipers when it rains.
Auto Dip Mirrors - because car manufacturers think we're too thick to dip our own mirrors.

Are we genuinely so stupid that these basic functions have to be taken away from the driver and made "auto" instead because a few lazy people complain about having to actually "do" things when they're in a car?

PS dipping side mirrors are amazing :D
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I've met the average person and the resounding answer is yes.
 
People here genuinely don't use automatic lights or wipers?

Variable speed automatic wipers are awesome.
 
TacticalFish said:
This. A thousand times this. I sometimes wonder if I have sensitive eyesight or everyone else is partly blind.
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Especially bright brake lights when you are sat in traffic. It is one of the down sides of auto hold so I rarely use it at night.

As for auto dipping lights, I am a little paranoid so tend not to use them as I have been flashed once or twice on narrow roads, the last place you want oncoming traffic to be unsighted.
 
muon said:
People here genuinely don't use automatic lights or wipers?

Variable speed automatic wipers are awesome.
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I do, rarely do I have an issue with lights or wipers, lights sometimes can be a bit "late" and wipers can be a bit sensitive but oveall I do like having them.
 
I find "auto" things actually stop you from concentrating on the road as everything is done for you so your mind is free to drift rather than having to concentrate on the conditions.

I have Auto lights, wipers and dimming mirrors and only leave the dipping side mirrors in Auto, everything else is Manual.
 
ianh said:
I find "auto" things actually stop you from concentrating on the road as everything is done for you so your mind is free to drift rather than having to concentrate on the conditions.
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Yes, i often find when driving all that keeps me going is the prospect of turning the lights and wipers on, i'd fall asleep at the wheel otherwise.
 
I never liked them on my e91. So much so, I never used them, they were just too slow, as said. But JUST quick enough to activate just before you realised they were to slow and decided to do it manually, meaning I often stuck them back on just as the auto bit turned them off. I turned it off sharpish. And on that basis, didn't order the adaptive on the F11. Which was, admittedly, a mistake.
 
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