Yes, that was my post on Reddit. Yeah, I know others don’t like the auto high beams, and I disabled it on my old one near immediately. The problem is you can’t even use cruise control now without them on for the new non-radar cars. So you have to decide between flashing people from behind with your brights which usually is a kind of road rage thing and driving manually.
It’s a little better if no one is around, but it still feels awkward even when alone them constantly going on and off. It may be an irrational fear, but I’m afraid there is going to be a cop on the side who sees it and pulls me over since it’s kind of suspicious. I don’t think there’s anything explicitly illegal about it, but the fact was if it makes me less comfortable than just driving for whatever reason than there’s no reason not to just drive. The whole point is making it less stressful, not more.
This is exactly why the not-yet-legal matrix headlights could become very important. The ability to run with high beams but selectively dim the beam for oncoming cars, highly reflective signs etc. could be a key benefit, assuming:
A. the matrix projector module is fitted,
B. it becomes legally approved in USA,
C.
it actually works smoothly & seamlessly.
This last point is not a given; delay or uncertainty of the response, or inability of the matrix control to keep up with the vehicle suspension bouncing around, could easily result in strange super-bright flickering effects that would be very disconcerting to others. This would have the effect that Demonofelru is talking about: a great idea poorly executed that confuses or enrages people, instead of making everyone's life safer and better.
There's also the hardware-platform problem here:
All M3s and MYP for many months now have had some sort of projector lights, though AFAIK it's still not clear whether these have any matrix capability. The latest info points to a modest-resolution Samsung PixCell matrix headlight module built into a Hella light assembly, but whether these are already the 2nd-gen M3/MYP lights, or a 3rd-gen version yet to be fitted in production, is not yet clear. In any case, older M3/MYP and present MYLR don't have such matrix hardware.
So even if there could be a wonderful solution to maximize nighttime illumination for the Pure Vision AP, the approval, performance level and backwards-compatibility picture is kind of a mess.
As many users already know, there's been a somewhat ridiculed desire to wait for MYLR to be fitted with new(er) or new(est) headlights. I'm sensitive to the night-driving issue and I thought it'd be nice to have these, even on the uncertain possibility of future matrix-feature enablement. But now I see a perverse disincentive looming: even if AP really would benefit from fancier headlight technology, Tesla won't want this point to become too obvious - because it could generate a clamor for expensive retrofits to bring older cars up to snuff. Maybe they'll conclude it's better just to keep dumber headlight functionality for everyone, even a problematic Auto-high-beam implementation as described above.
I hope things play out better than this pessimistic scenario, but it's frustrating to think it could be so. As much as I try to see things from Tesla's side as they navigate changes and shortages, it looks like a bumpy ride with this latest roll-out, and I hate to think that they're painting themselves into any corners that could stifle future excellence.
