And headlights are light-years better. Sure, we're all blinded by the other cars we meet, but damnit we can see up a bugs ass at 300 feet as long as no car is coming our way.. Now they want us to wear seat belts and not have open containers of alcohol in the vehicle. Makes me want to grow out a rat tail hairdo and go back to the good ol' days when you could pound a sixer of Buds between work and home.
The segmented headlights that are legal in other countries (but not currently the US) are amazing for this. They've got multi-segment LEDs that can switch on or off, or redirect, without dimming the whole headlight. It's pretty cool to see in action - anyone who has driven in rural settings knows how important it is to keep your brights on so that you can see the sides of the roads where the damn deer love to run. The multi-segment bulbs can dim the segment that's actually facing oncoming traffic, while leaving the other bulbs on bright. Some cars in the US even have the headlight assemblies for it (I know Porsche does, and I think Mercedes does as well) but the software is disabled so they just act like one big bulb.
I've been waiting for that tech since I read about it. As it stands, I already drive in the dark more in the early morning hours. Nights just ain't for me and my family. I drive a boat at night more times than a car. Typical evening car trips for the year look like a couple nights during a beach trip, couple haunted houses around Halloween and a couple of evening family gatherings around Christmas. That's how introverted we've become.
Y'all. People from Alabama talk so fucking much. I thought it was just me and a learned behavior from my family but I have randomly met a few people from Alabama in this area and they all won't stop fucking talking. Everything becomes a yarn, every story transitions into a new one.
I have this on my car. It’s fucking magical. Auto highbeams without fear of blinding oncoming traffic.
Well, I say let's fuck around and find out. If the sun cracking the horizon mid-morning isn't a big deal for Atlanta and (later than that) some of Indiana (add an hour to those times, folks), it'll probably stay that way. It's going to be a shock for some, though. Damn, I was unaware.
Why doesn't the whole world just use GMT? Businesses could be like, "we're open from 1300 GMT to 2300 GMT". Or whatever time it is appropriately light in their geographic area. Just do away with all the bullshit. Then people half a world apart can do business more easily, without checking what time zone one is in and doing math to see when their business hours coincide with waking hours of the other. People on the west side of a current time zone can pick their own appropriate business hours, rather than just match the acceptable business hours of businesses on the east side of a current timezone.
I also have this or something very similar in my F150 if I understand what you're talking about. On divided highways my left headlight will dim while the right stays on high until vehicles get close. It's all automatic and it's wonderful. Brightest lights I've ever had on a vehicle, they will also adjust down when I come up behind a car at a light or wherever so that they don't shine into their mirrors. It'll be expensive to fix when it breaks but for now I love it.
The wifey's Grand Cherokee has auto-dimming LED lights but they're too sensitive IMO. They'll turn off (go to regular headlights) if they catch their own reflection off a street sign or a bright porch light on a curvy road so I just use the brights manually. The downside to some these HID headlamps is that they are fucking expensive. The most expensive one that came through my shop was for a 2014-ish standard Porsche 911. IIRC it was close to $4000 for one headlamp.
I upgraded my bulbs in my old Tacoma, a 2002 truck. My girlfriend at the time thought I was crazy for spending $100+ to replace bulbs that weren't even burned out, but damnit I could see.
Yesterday the outboard got bent hard left while we were in the bay — they’re looking at it now and think it’s a hydraulic fluid leak, which they charged by the hour to come to my original conclusion — but I was able to use the wind and a combination of forward/reverse and driving in circles to get us to a dock to tie up where someone could come take a look. Then cautiously used the wind to keep us against the sea wall and redneck figure our way back. Then I got back from such heroic act and promptly got a concussion hitting my head on the boat lift. No good deed goes unpunished. Haven’t had a concussion in a while though so I can’t complain too much.