Hello, Cayenne here. Did you know that dogs have better night vision than humans? That's because dogs have a high number of light-sensitive rods within their retinas. Today, we will bark about how, when driving at night, high and low beams work for night vision or lack of vision for other drivers.
It's happened to all of us. We're driving down a highway at night and over a crest appears a car with its high beams blazing. You are momentarily blinded, hoping the other driver will switch them to their low-beam setting and restore your vision.
Not only do we not appreciate being blinded, face it; we don’t want to be that other driver, either. You know, the one who forgets to turn down their high beams.
Why do we want high beams in the first place? When used correctly, they can improve safety, giving drivers more reaction time since they can see farther down the road. However, research has found that many drivers either don't use them or, when they do, frequently forget to switch to low beams. Enter the automatic high-beam dimmer.
The quest for the perfect one began in the 1950s when General Motors invented what it called the "Autronic Eye." It was a phototube that sat on the dashboard and turned down your beams when it saw other headlights. While touted as the biggest advance in night driving safety in 30 years, it didn't work all that well. But as technology advanced, systems improved.
Today's automatic high beam dimmers usually have a camera in the rearview mirror (pointing forward). When the camera sees lights, software in the system's computer attempts to determine the source of the light, whether it is an oncoming vehicle, taillights, ambient city lights, street lights or the reflection off of a street sign. It then adjusts the headlights to operate high beams if appropriate or a less-blinding mode if they’re not.
Some automakers strive to make their headlight systems more intelligent and safer by developing lamps that can avoid blinding oncoming drivers by means other than simply dimming them. One idea? Splitting the beams so they will block just the portion that shines into the eyes of oncoming drivers.
It's a long way from the Autronic Eye.
I leave you with this fun quote about light,
A day without sunshine is like, you know, night ~ Steve Martin
Cayenne
Allied Auto Works
2073 Grant Road
Los Altos, CA 94024
6509687227
http://alliedautoworks.com