*Good* new cars come with a feature that turns the headlights when your car turns. So you can see where you're going. Another design has sidelights which turn on to illuminate the direction that you are signaling in. So it seems logical that next carmakers should make their headlights pan upwards as the car's speed increases. Pulling into the garage they are panned all the way down so you can see to park. On the highway they pan up and illuminate the road a half mile in front of you. Maybe the brights turn on automatically at 65mph.
-- DIYMatt, Jul 13 2010

Cadillac Intellibeam http://www.canadian...acs-intellibeam.htm
Starting over 10 kph, the Intellibeam dims lights with oncoming traffic. [Cedar Park, Jul 14 2010]

what about cars coming the other direction which is why there is a high and low beam to begin with.
-- jhomrighaus, Jul 13 2010


Good till the "brights turn on automatically at 65", I don't need to announce that I am speeding so openly. (+) for actually thinking of something Tucker did not.
-- MisterQED, Jul 13 2010


65 isn't speeding (at least not in reasonably sensible countries)

I don't like the trend for taking control away from the driver.

Unless the system can react properly to all conditions, it's bound to cause problems sooner or later.

Driving with lights on main beam illuminates the road ahead, but makes it more difficult to see objects to either side (pedestrians, vehicles in side streets, speed traps etc.).

A simple speed related headlight dip is not good enough.
-- Twizz, Jul 13 2010


So the cabin is fitted with an eye-tracking device, which swivels the headlights to point in the direction the driver is looking.
-- pocmloc, Jul 13 2010


Have you ever seen an eye tracking trace?

The roads would look like a permanent disco light show.
-- Twizz, Jul 13 2010


Why not go the whole hog and just hang a couple of flood lights on the front of the car? Everything up ahead and to the sides gets lit up like daytime.
-- Tulaine, Jul 13 2010


I can see the point of altering the beam angle for very slow driving or for parking as opposed to normal driving, so [+]
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 13 2010


//panned all the way down// Valet lights for side mirrors to assist in parking are common on high-end vehicles
-- Cedar Park, Jul 14 2010


Car's with headlamps that adjust with speed or road conditions is nothing new. Citroën used to fit these many years ago. From wiki link:

"The 1967 French Citroën DS and 1970 Citroën SM were equipped with an elaborate dynamic headlamp positioning system that adjusted the headlamps' horizontal and vertical positioning in response to inputs from the vehicle's steering and suspension systems"
-- xenzag, Jul 14 2010


I'm about 90% sure my audi's bi-xenons do almost exactly what you described, save for the automatic brights part.
-- acurafan07, Jul 16 2010



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