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Comment by kzrdude | Hacker News Reader

Other cars have high-beam assist too, are they better? Don't know. My old car doesn't do that.

2021 Toyota Corolla owner here .. it works well enough, but random reflections off of street signs and such cause them to randomly flick on and off. I wouldn't call high beam assist a "safety feature", but more of a "hey, it's better than nothing". I tend to use my high beams more in scenarios where it would have been too annoying to turn them on and off, so it's net safer. If that makes sense. I wouldn't classify this article as news ... it's sort of a given that this technology is a bit iffy?

For that matter, the Toyota lane keeping is one of the better and safer ones that I've driven, but it flakes out and gives up way too easily to rely on (a small gap in the line and it disables, as opposed to trying to push you into curbs). Again, just a "better than nothing" experience that can be useful on the tail end of a long drive. In the case of Queensland -> Melbourne, the car was the better driver at the end.

The street sign reader, speed warning and rear cross assist is absolute black magic and I have no idea how it's so reliable!

> "hey, it's better than nothing". I tend to use my high beams more in scenarios where it would have been too annoying to turn them on and off, so it's net safer.

I wonder what are those scenarios? Shifting gears? Aren't drivers suppose to be more careful before shifting?

I'm just asking because at the moment I'm not sure If I can agree with "better than nothing". Putting assistant in to MS Office is one thing but cars?

Well it's a fully auto hybrid, but often times I won't use high beams on a semi busy rural road because it's too much bother to turn them on and off every minute or so. Especially if you're going around corners and things like that, and someone appears.. at least with the auto dimmer, you can just leave them on and yes, it's a bit over-sensitive, but it still correctly dims them immediately when it needs to. More importantly, I leave the high beams on rather than get irritated and just turn them off, hence it's net safer.

High-beam assist with matrix headlights is amazing - keeps the high-beam on but just changes the shape to avoid the exact area that would dazzle someone else.

I think matrix LED lights are not allowed in US? But yes - having matrix headlights is a huge safety benefit. I am driving on high beam most of the time and only small parts are dimmed if there is a car in that sector. Works really well and it was well worth the money (Audi A6).

Just got the regulatory framework in place for it IIRC.

Just say it's in beta, then you can apparently do whatever you want in the US!

I have it on my Honda. I'd say it's just way to conservative. Conditions have to be perfect for it to turn on the high beams. Any time they are on they are on correctly, but there are many times when they should be on but aren't.

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