Your automatic headlights dazzle trucks ? Find out why!

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Automatic headlights are not new. Indeed, the very first vehicle to have it was the high-end Cadillac of 1952. This decade was that of the implementation of numerous technologies, very common today: power steering, air conditioning, seat belts, monocoque bodies and even disc brakes. However, automatic headlights are not common to all cars on the market today. Operating thanks to a camera that detects approaching vehicles, this mechanism still reveals a rather astonishing weakness when faced with trucks and other tall vehicles.

Their Achilles heel: the highway

Theoretically, automatically managed headlights make driving much easier at night, where the risk of accidents is highest. This is true, in the majority of cases, but in practice, this technology presents a fairly significant gap.

Indeed, the guardrailsalong highways obstruct detection cameras, preventing the system from recognizing the headlights of oncoming vehicles. Result: the high beams remain active, and the tallest vehicles, trucks in most cases, therefore find themselves in full light.

Currently, LED or xenon headlights can produce up to 3 000 lumens per bulb, which is more than enough to dazzle a person. In terms of security, it's quite problematic.

A solution: matrix lights

Apart from the good old method which consists of perpetually playing the switch so as not to endanger others, another technology exists: matrix lights .

Operating using LEDs (arranged in a grid), the system allows the light beam emitted by the headlights to be controlled with greater precision. It dynamically adjusts overall lighting and optimizes it in real time for greater safety and comfort.

This technology is based on a combination of sensors and an onboard camera which continuously scan the environment. Initially, this was only present on premium vehicles (Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Bentley, etc.) but it tends to become more widespread towards more general vehicles . In the future, we can almost be certain that matrix lights will be offered on most vehicles as they are an advantage for safety. In the meantime, take care of your automatic lights, which despite their name, are not effective 100% of the time.

• Automatic lights have a flaw in certain situations.
• Their weak point: the highway, where the barriers get in the way the proper functioning of the detection system, which causes dazzling of trucks located on the opposite lane.
• More recent, matrix light technology is much more effective and can counter this problem.

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