Mercedes-Benz debuts turquoise exterior lights to indicate the car is self-driving | A visual indicator for other drivers::undefined

  • oatscoop
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    11 months ago

    They’re not supposed to be rear-facing headlights.

    Blindly backing up in the dark is how you hit/run over things. Back up lights are supposed to provide enough light so you can see where you’re going.

    • Dem Bosain
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      11 months ago

      Well, I will concede. I was certain I read a NHTSA interpretation denying this purpose, but the definition in FMVSS specifically states the purpose to “illuminate the road to the rear”.

      But, there’s nothing in the regulation specifying how this is supposed to work (except the brightness of the lamp), and there’s no maximum height for the mounting location like the other lamps.

      • Fondots@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Exactly, we left it mostly up to the manufacturers and they’ve kind of abused that freedom and made them kind of shit for their intended purpose.

        Now in the modern era, with backup cameras being standard equipment on new cars, you can maybe make an argument for them being a little redundant since most if not all backup cameras have some night vision capabilities, but a little redundancy isn’t a bad thing, if your camera gets fucked up you still probably want to see where you’re going when you’re backing out of your driveway to get it fixed.