5 ms·

I'd like to see more variable brake lights to go with this: i.e. a strip of light across the rear of the vehicle, that progressively lights up according to how

by jbms 8y ago

I'd like to see more variable brake lights to go with this: i.e. a strip of light across the rear of the vehicle, that progressively lights up according to how hard the vehicle is braking (or anticipates braking, if it's autonomous). Some cars have a flash-brake-lights-under-heavy-braking, but I think it would help traffic flow if you can more easily distinguish a touch of the brakes from a press of the brakes.

veritas3241 8y ago
I've thought this would make sense too and I feel like I'm missing something as to why it hasn't been implemented. Complexity perhaps? Interesting to note, though, that we do have weak forms of braking that don't light up the tail lights - heavy engine braking in the case of manual transmissions, lighter engine-braking for automatics, and in the case of electric vehicles (at least a Tesla in my experience) the lights don't kick on from regen unless it's passed a certain deceleration level.
- arbitrage 8y ago
  There's no tangible benefit big enough for the added complexity and maintenance cost. What exactly do you get from incremental brake lights?
  - jbms 8y ago
    You get clearer communication from the car in front of its actions and intentions, in an intuitive way. This assists traffic flow and might enhance safety.
enraged_camel 8y ago
I dunno. I personally like the non-variable brake lights because I can gently tap on my brakes to make tailgaters give me space.
mstade 8y ago
I think some sort of variable lighting would be nifty, but in my book it's the wrong solution to what is really a problem of keeping distance. For highway driving the answer for me there has been adaptive cruise control – it's amazing! What I'm missing though is for a way to have the car keep distance, but still leave control over the gas to me. This would be very useful in high traffic situations where setting a cruise control speed isn't really usable, since you'll likely be disengaging it now and then due to braking because someone is cutting in. I put a lot more faith in sensors to judge the distance to the car in front of me, than my visual perception of brake lights. At a certain medium distance, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to judge the difference between 25% brake and 75% anyway, but my car's sensors would be able to detect that I'm on a collision course, and could adjust gas/braking accordingly.

by jbms 8y ago

veritas3241 8y ago

I've thought this would make sense too and I feel like I'm missing something as to why it hasn't been implemented. Complexity perhaps? Interesting to note, though, that we do have weak forms of braking that don't light up the tail lights - heavy engine braking in the case of manual transmissions, lighter engine-braking for automatics, and in the case of electric vehicles (at least a Tesla in my experience) the lights don't kick on from regen unless it's passed a certain deceleration level.

arbitrage 8y ago
There's no tangible benefit big enough for the added complexity and maintenance cost. What exactly do you get from incremental brake lights?
- jbms 8y ago
  You get clearer communication from the car in front of its actions and intentions, in an intuitive way. This assists traffic flow and might enhance safety.

enraged_camel 8y ago

I dunno. I personally like the non-variable brake lights because I can gently tap on my brakes to make tailgaters give me space.

mstade 8y ago

I think some sort of variable lighting would be nifty, but in my book it's the wrong solution to what is really a problem of keeping distance. For highway driving the answer for me there has been adaptive cruise control – it's amazing! What I'm missing though is for a way to have the car keep distance, but still leave control over the gas to me. This would be very useful in high traffic situations where setting a cruise control speed isn't really usable, since you'll likely be disengaging it now and then due to braking because someone is cutting in. I put a lot more faith in sensors to judge the distance to the car in front of me, than my visual perception of brake lights. At a certain medium distance, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to judge the difference between 25% brake and 75% anyway, but my car's sensors would be able to detect that I'm on a collision course, and could adjust gas/braking accordingly.