FDA approves Laser Headlight, when will Tesla have it?

[Mike K]

Genuine question: what other cars had moveable LED headlights 10 years ago?

I think you might have mis-read my statement:

Tesla isn't on the cutting edge of lighting. The S only has standard fixed HIDs. It's a decade behind other luxury cars in that respect.

I didn't mention LEDs, just HIDs. And as far as being 10 years behind, my 2006 M5 had auto leveling, swiveling headlights. I think my 2004 A8 did too but I'm sure my 2007 A8 did. These are 10 year old non-flagship cars and it wasn't like the swiveling headlights were a big money option.

As far as LED headlights go, I think Audi was the first in 2011 with the A8 followed by the A6 and then *gasp* Lincoln with the MKZ.

I'm willing to forgive Tesla for the omission of things like this on the S since they had so many other obstacles to overcome. I think people are going to be much less forgiving on future cars though.

 

[Super_Popular]

When the Model S was first released you had to order the Tech package to get HID's. The base models came with halogens.

 

[svp6]

You actually don't need laser for that. LED is capable of it as well as is HID. My 535 would have it's highs on most of the time and when an oncoming car was detected it would swivel the driver's light over to create a tunnel for that car and it would track it until the car got close enough, shut off the left high beam altogether, and then snap it back on. Same with following cars with your high beams on. If you came up on a car in front of you the high beams would split to make a tunnel for it but your highs would still be fully on without blinding that car.

With HIDs they were using a blocker on a swivel with a stepper or servo motor of some sort.

All of this is of course illegal in the US because of our archaic DOT laws but at least in the case of the BMWs the hardware and software is all there but just disabled during pre-purchase inspection. $50 and someone can code it right back on for you. Best $50 I ever spent. Those headlights were amazing.

Too bad I did not know this when I had my 650 :crying:

 

[Thud]

...and why is the Food and Drug Administration involved in approving automotive lighting again?

Because lasers are categorized as medical devices.

You would think the easier thing to do would just be if we all agreed that headlights are not medical devices. It should fall under the transportation dept.

 

[Stoneymonster]

Because lasers are categorized as medical devices.

You would think the easier thing to do would just be if we all agreed that headlights are not medical devices. It should fall under the transportation dept.

Yes but then you'd end up with two bureaucracies doing the same thing (regulating laser safety). One is enough

 

[Caligula]

Well, I'm sure everyone sitting through one of my presentations at work can breathe easily knowing that the almighty FDA has approved my radiological medical device... errr, laSer pointer for use in the United States.

In before these headlights become weapons in the next Bond film, BtW.

 

[Stoneymonster]

Well, I'm sure everyone sitting through one of my presentations at work can breathe easily knowing that the almighty FDA has approved my radiological medical device... errr, laser pointer for use in the United States.

In before these headlights become weapons in the next Bond film, BtW.

 

[Caligula]

You mean I'm not supposed to hold my intern down and shine that into his pupil?

 

[Stoneymonster]

You mean I'm not supposed to hold my intern down and shine that into his pupil?

That reminds me, I haven't seen Real Genius in a while.

 

[DrComputer]

As far as LED headlights go, I think Audi was the first in 2011 with the A8 followed by the A6 and then *gasp* Lincoln with the MKZ.

I'm willing to forgive Tesla for the omission of things like this on the S since they had so many other obstacles to overcome. I think people are going to be much less forgiving on future cars though.

Actually the first production car with LED headlights was the Lexus LS600hl in 2007 (I had one before my Model S).

 

[jerry33]

Genuine question: what other cars had moveable LED headlights 10 years ago?

Citroen had them starting in 1955.

 

[Stoneymonster]

Citroen had them starting in 1955.

That's a good trick since LEDs were first produced in 1962 :tongue:

 

[scottm]

illuminating thoughts

Tesla has awesome HIDs. Best headlights I've ever driven in any car I've owned.

LED headlights are only on the up-level Leaf, not base Leaf. And there's no way to delete them for HIDs instead.

Have you DRIVEN a car at night with LED headlights? Not the same flood effect as HIDs. I'll keep my HID's thanks. Especially on HIGH BEAM.

Does Tesla S need self leveling lights like a JEEP? No.
The air suspension I've got does the job nicely at keeping the car parallel to the ground, no matter how much I load up the car to its limits.

Tesla S has cornering lights that come on and are useful at low speed parking lot maneuvers, let's not forget those.

Not sure, from a practical sense, if I need lights to gently sway left or right to follow the curvature of a bending road... the BEAM WIDTH on low and high seems to provide enough light to where I'm going to be going at the speeds I'm getting there.

I want simpler things where possible. Less to malfunction or break. Less weight. A carefully constructed beam pattern is awesome and can do away with electromechanical gizmos to compensate for poor work in that area. I'm kinda bummed the HID's use a mechanical flapper to select low/high output.

But if you're the kind of person who buys Tesla for "maximum tech's sake" then more is better and lasers are cool! I get that.

Keep adding sh*t and you'll end up with another model X... ! A little on the tubby side shall we say?

And shouldn't a fully autonomous car be able to drive itself at night without visible light at all? No headlights, waste of energy, you know..

 

[Caligula]

The air suspension I've got does the job nicely at keeping the car parallel to the ground, no matter how much I load up the car to its limits.

Tesla S has cornering lights that come on and are useful at low speed parking lot maneuvers, let's not forget those.

My MS has neither of these things.

 

[sorka]

Tesla isn't on the cutting edge of lighting. The S only has standard fixed HIDs. It's a decade behind other luxury cars in that respect. Unless they end up licensing someone else's technology I don't see Tesla skipping over LEDs to offer laser lighting any time soon.

Both my Lexus and Infiniti have HIDs that rack with steering. That said I prefer the LEDs cornering lights on the sides that pop on when turning in the MS to the more complicated mechanical versions of my other two cars. Plus it's less complicated and lighter. I don't really see this as 10 years behind the times.

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HID are something like 45W. 30% more efficient brings them down to 31.5W. The 13.5W savings means that you will gain a mile of range somewhere around 20-30 hours of driving with the lights on. Energy efficiency wouldn't be the primary reason to use them, as it's down in the noise level.

All the HID bulbs I've ever had on my cars were 35 watts.

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When the Model S was first released you had to order the Tech package to get HID's. The base models came with halogens.

I had a loaner with the halogens and couldn't believe it. Now THAT is behind the times.

 

[AudubonB]

Since I also was going to cite Citroen, let me come to Jerry's rescue and say that in French "LED" means "a 55-watt incandescent bulb that glimmers on occasion".



But they did swivel!

 

[AWDtsla]

Tucker had steering linked headlights in 1948.

 

[wdolson]

That's a good trick since LEDs were first produced in 1962 :tongue:

And blue LEDs weren't sold until 1989, and high intensity blue LEDS weren't available until 1994. White LEDS which are blue LEDS with a coating weren't invented until 2001. People who are more sensitive to blue than average can get extreme eye strain from white LEDs because there is a spike in the blue spectrum with those lights most people can't detect.

 

[Skotty]

Laser safety is a technical thing that I wouldn't trust to the DOT. I'm fine with it being regulated by the FDA. Entrusting this to the DOT instead of the FDA would be kind of like entrusting Asplund to trim a tree in your prized yard instead of an Arborist.

The problem with swiveling and auto-leveling head lights, in the general sense, is that no one really cares. There's no bang for your buck. In the world I live in, I have yet to come across a single person complain about their headlights bouncing or not aiming with them in turns, nor have I ever encountered someone rave about their car having such features (if ever anyone I've talked to had such features on their car). It's fine if Tesla wants to someday sell it as an option, but I can understand if it's not a high priority.

 

[Mike K]

Both my Lexus and Infiniti have HIDs that rack with steering. That said I prefer the LEDs cornering lights on the sides that pop on when turning in the MS to the more complicated mechanical versions of my other two cars. Plus it's less complicated and lighter. I don't really see this as 10 years behind the times.

You're confusing features. The lights you're referring to that the Tesla has are really meant for turning. The moving HIDs are for actually lighting up the road around a bend. I live up in the Hollywood hills where and the last 5 minutes of my drive home has about 20 curves. These are priceless. They are a glaring (no pun intended) omission when I drive the Tesla. As far as less complicated, I suppose yes but it's not as if there are a lot of BMWs and Audis with failing headlights. It's a non-issue. Heavier? lol are you serious?

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Tesla has awesome HIDs. Best headlights I've ever driven in any car I've owned.

LED headlights are only on the up-level Leaf, not base Leaf. And there's no way to delete them for HIDs instead.

Have you DRIVEN a car at night with LED headlights? Not the same flood effect as HIDs. I'll keep my HID's thanks. Especially on HIGH BEAM.

Does Tesla S need self leveling lights like a JEEP? No.
The air suspension I've got does the job nicely at keeping the car parallel to the ground, no matter how much I load up the car to its limits.

Tesla S has cornering lights that come on and are useful at low speed parking lot maneuvers, let's not forget those.

Not sure, from a practical sense, if I need lights to gently sway left or right to follow the curvature of a bending road... the BEAM WIDTH on low and high seems to provide enough light to where I'm going to be going at the speeds I'm getting there.

I want simpler things where possible. Less to malfunction or break. Less weight. A carefully constructed beam pattern is awesome and can do away with electromechanical gizmos to compensate for poor work in that area. I'm kinda bummed the HID's use a mechanical flapper to select low/high output.

But if you're the kind of person who buys Tesla for "maximum tech's sake" then more is better and lasers are cool! I get that.

Keep adding sh*t and you'll end up with another model X... ! A little on the tubby side shall we say?

And shouldn't a fully autonomous car be able to drive itself at night without visible light at all? No headlights, waste of energy, you know..

Come. On. This is the kind of nonsense I referred to in another post where people post delusional statements with no basis in reality just because they can't admit that the Model S comes up short in any way whatsoever. LED lights are as good as HIDs and in many cases better. The LEDs in my 535 were absolutely amazing. As for the "flood", I don't think you know what you're talking about. In most cases LEDs are also shooting through a projector with a cut-off and have an almost identical beam spread to HIDs.

Does Tesla S need self leveling lights like a JEEP? No.
The air suspension I've got does the job nicely at keeping the car parallel to the ground, no matter how much I load up the car to its limits.

You can't be serious with any of this. You think Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Infiniti and pretty much every other manufacturer have auto-leveling lights because you're putting heavy loads in the cars? They do it because that kind of tech is all but required.

I want simpler things where possible. Less to malfunction or break. Less weight. A carefully constructed beam pattern is awesome and can do away with electromechanical gizmos to compensate for poor work in that area.

No, it can't. That's why we're seeing new generation headlights that steer and are able to brighten and dim very specific areas in the beam pattern based on what's ahead of you. I mean what you say is nice in theory but in practical application just isn't true.

And none of it matters because the Tesla excels in other areas. It's understandable that they shorted it on stuff like this and instead concentrated efforts elsewhere. Just don't be naive about it and assume that because Tesla does it this way that it's the best way. The Tesla's lights get the job done but relative to the best offerings from Mercedes, Audi and BMW, they come up well short. I'm sure they'll catch up in the near future.