Audi wants to change a 45-year-old U.S.
headlight rule
The new
Audi A8 sedan wants to include one of Audi’s newest features, matrix-beam headlights. These headlights are made up of a number of
LED bulbs that can brighten or dim individually depending on what the cameras
and sensors in the car read. They allow
for illuminating around corners, brighter beams, auto adjusting to surroundings,
and greater line of sight overall. Audi
plans to charge around $3,000 for the lights.
These
headlights, while awesome, are not street legal. This is due to a law passed in 1968 that says
cars headlights must have two settings, high and low. Because of this law Audi is teaming up with
BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors to update this law to include automated
features. Stephan Berlitz, Audi’s
heading of lighting innovations, said in a statement, “Lighting technology changed dramatically in the last 10 to 15
years. It’s difficult to do all these
innovative things in this regulation from 1968.”
While these companies are very
well known and have a lot of power in the automobile industry the likelihood of
these laws changing soon is not that high.
According to Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator, “The agency
doesn’t generally change a regulation unless manufacturers show a proven safety
benefit backed up by studies. The lobbying push could be even tougher at a time
of budget cuts due to the sequester, she says. “A lighting system that dims,
I’m not sure that’s going to be No. 1 on their list.” I guess we will have
to wait in see if our lights become as smart as our cars themselves.
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