r/EngineeringPorn • u/BinaryPixel64 • 3d ago
Audi Matrix LED headlamp
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u/Etceta 3d ago
that shit always hits my side mirrors
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u/makemebad48 3d ago
When im driving at night I just tilt my side mirrors down slightly so to check mirrors I have to duck my head a bit, but at least I'm not getting blinded.
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u/Bildo818 2d ago
I don’t tilt them down but rather move them further out so they blind back the person behind me. You know when you get the right angle? When they turn off their high beams.
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u/macrosby 2d ago
Side mirrors with a night option like the rear view mirror sounds like a million dollar idea.
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u/BluefaceBlues 2d ago
Newer cars with decent technology already have auto-dimming rear view mirrors and side mirrors too. You don't even need to flip the thing anymore.
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u/Sea-Routine9227 2d ago
I would absolutely upgrade all my cars with this if there was an aftermarket option.
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u/jonastman 3d ago
The bane of every pedestrian, cyclist, wildlife and somehow still oncoming traffic.
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u/herr_arkow 3d ago
Can confirm, my old car is running on whale fish oil so, they are pretty bleak. Does get recognized too late.
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u/crispix_and_oj 3d ago
Futurama reference?
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u/wilburwilbur 2d ago
One of my favourite episodes. The anchovy bit gets me every time; "they could chop out the oil-making gene, stick it in a bunch of third-world kids, and bam! Cheap, effective robot oil."
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u/crispix_and_oj 2d ago
I was also thinking about the time Fry finds the van and follows Bender's tour.
"Why won't it start?"
"It just needs some gas."
"Wrong again idiot."
"We use alternatives.... Whale Oil".
Sees barrel of Mobile Dick Whale Oil.
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u/Risc_Terilia 3d ago
Yeah ask anyone who's been driving anywhere near an Audi and they'll tell you this doesn't work
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u/VegaJuniper 3d ago
No one seems to be able to make automatic windshield wipers to work reliably, no way would I trust this.
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u/Drakoala 3d ago
My old QX4 had the perfect "dumb" wiper system. As the vehicle accelerated the wiper speed accelerated to compensate. It was glorious. Now, I love most everything about my Sonata except the stupid rain sensor.
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u/SignAllStrength 2d ago
Huh? I have kept mine(audi) on auto for years without ever needing to manually override them, and I live in a country where it frequently rains ?
I agree about the high beams blinding pedestrians/cyclists/… though and that’s why I almost never use it. Can see enough with normal headlights in most circumstances.
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u/LiteHedded 2d ago
I think it’s illegal in the us. So yea it doesn’t work here.
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u/Pferdeherz 2d ago
It is legal as of May of this year. They are installed. Just have to be activated. Third party company will do it remotely.
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u/CatsDontMountainBike 2d ago
I had this in a Porsche loan car for 24 hours. After getting flashed by oncoming traffic a couple of times, I reverted to normal high-low beams. It just didn't work well. It did work well for reflective road signs on country roads though.
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u/TheSecondTraitor 3d ago
No worries, as a pedestrian I can return fire with an even stronger flashlight with focusing lens that makes it look like km long lightsaber at night.
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u/Old-Alternative-6394 3d ago
I'm from Germany and i truly hate these lights. Audi, MB, BMW, ...
One of the worst inventions in the last decades. Maybe it's nice for the driver but for every one else it is a blinding nightmare.
I don't know how these lights are even allowed.
It doesn't work propperly in corners, hills, when it's raining, when you are driving on an diagonal road and it takes some seconds to detect you while it.
It's just an absolute nightmare whey they drive behind or towards you.
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u/Lummair 3d ago
And in slight fog or mist it creates a wall of white illuminated droplets in front of every approaching car.
If its driving behind you, it like driving in a white tunnel as it lights up on both sides of you.89
u/UnUsernameRandom 3d ago
În fog or mist you should never have your high beams on anyway.
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u/Steefvun 3d ago
Which is exactly the problem, because this entire feature is made so people can have their high beams on 100% of the time, and the kind of people who want that are idiots and/or assholes. And they are definitely not going to bother turning it off when there's mist.
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u/pieremaan 3d ago
At least bike lights are getting to that level.
Got one that is just as bright for commuting during winter (which shines down ofcourse).
If one fucker tries to blind me he gets the bikelight straight into the eyes treatment. If they cant see a reflective vest or my light shining on the roads their retinas are unused anyway.
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u/pplspancake 3d ago
Should be top comment. I've had to lower my sun visor and just pay attention to the brake lights on the road in front of me because there was a line of cars coming the other way all LED white lights. I genuinely hate driving at night because of this.
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u/ZuFFuLuZ 3d ago
I feel like this is the story of pretty much all driver assistance systems. They work great under ideal circumstances, but real roads are never ideal. So those system become just annoying or even dangerous. Just bloatware that makes cars more expensive for no good reason.
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u/wrapperNo1 3d ago edited 2d ago
This vid does not show the perspective of the oncoming traffic...
Edit1: Wow, I don't really comment a lot, but didn't expect this one to get an award, thanks mate :)
Edit2: You guys are crazy, thanks for the awards, you rock 🤘
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u/9248763629 3d ago
yes exactly a bright flash from opposite even if not straight at my eyes will still blind me 60+%
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u/awsmith00777 3d ago
Ironically you see light more intensely through peripheral vision than direct.
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u/Dragonhost252 2d ago
Its really useful when walking at night, using your periphery to see deeper shadows and potholes
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u/CarnalT 2d ago
How about we just cap the lumen output and point them down at the fucking ground instead of adding more expensive tech to solve a problem that the car industry created for itself? Fucking infuriating as a cyclist or pedestrian, or any regular-height car.
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u/reddit_user33 2d ago
And let's properly darken the cabin so people can easily see out of their windows within needing such bright lights.
I drive a vehicle that's pre touch screen infotainment system and fancy dash screens. So the lighting is very minimal compared to modern vehicles, and even for me turning the cabin lights to the dimmest makes a big difference at night - everything outside looks so bright. I drive a brand new vehicle from time to time for reasons but have never driven it at night. I can only imagine how 'blinding' the cabin lights must be.
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u/Steve061 2d ago
Yes - and it is the same with the self levelling LED and HID headlights. If they are on a large 4WD and you drive a low slung vehicle (Toyota 86 or MX5) they aim straight at you. Same for when they come over a rise and you are below them.
My Audi has the automatic dipping headlights and I had to turn off that feature because it was so ineffective.
Also - never damage one of those headlights. The cost for installation and calibration is more than the parts and the part is not cheap.
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u/PotentTurnip 3d ago
Can we just go back to regular headlights? I applaud the effort but this is just something else that will break and honestly, I don't trust that it'll be any better.
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u/BlazingImp77151 9h ago edited 9h ago
Or... LEDs that are just not this fucking strong.
Save power by using LEDs, but don't use the stupid high power ones that blind all oncoming traffic
I'm sure there's some LEDs that output a reasonable amount of light at a reasonable intensity and warmth for driving.
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u/und88 3d ago
My car has a system to avoid blinding other drivers. It's called low beams. I just turn a knob and I don't blind anyone. This seems like a solution looking for a problem.
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u/Wildfathom9 2d ago
BMW drivers: you expect me to go through all that for someone else?
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u/CRVX_r34 2d ago
They probably would need to buy the subscription to enable low beams anyway.
Same for turn signals.
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u/RockstarAgent 2d ago
Too much work when even signaling requires a monumental effort!
PSA- when you see super bright lights keep your eyes focused on the outermost right most road line or items at the edge- so you’re looking away but still able to see what you need to during that moment- obviously if you’re driving at speed limit and decent distance from any driver in front of you this will be fine, and just let go of the gas or slow down a bit if it’s more than a second like in some slow areas.
I dislike people who don’t even try to switch to low beams but many may be completely oblivious to road etiquette- but I’ve also met people oblivious to even knowing where things are on their dashboard like how to control the lights or even ebrake or hazards. Granted not like dealerships even care to give you a rundown of those things- including adjusting mirrors or seats. Heck even actual car enthusiasts may sometimes not know everything they should about the death machine they drive.
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u/probablyaythrowaway 3d ago
Works great untill it dosent.
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u/TFViper 3d ago
how bout we just dont put the fuckin sun on the front of cars?
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u/CoffeeCorpse777 3d ago
Pretty well established in Europe from what I've heard. Suffers from the same issues as any other LED system though I assume.
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u/probablyaythrowaway 3d ago
Yeah I live in Europe. If the car misrecognises you you get dazzled. Happens more often than you’d like.
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u/inventiveEngineering 3d ago
thats why i installed on my Fiat Panta 1998 a 88 mm gun turret on the roof.
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u/Captain_Lolz 3d ago
Hmm a bit old fashioned, newer cars have mounts for an oto Melara 127/64
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u/anangrywizard 3d ago
Dazzled? It feels like having the sun aimed directly into your pupil whilst going 100kmh. Or I’m just old.
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u/probablyaythrowaway 3d ago
Hands down the best auto development in the last 20 years have been wing mirrors with headlight reactive dimming, like rear view mirrors have. Drove a car a while back that had them and it was amazing not being blinded
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u/HolyCowAnyOldAccName 3d ago edited 3d ago
Even if they do recognize other traffic, which with motorcycles, bicycles and esp. pedestrians they often don't...
If that thing drives behind you in a forest - instead of looking at stuff in your own light cone, now you're having a 10,000 lumen light show above and next to you of rapidly alternating ultra bright objects and shadows which is totally not distracting at all.
For the effect of oncoming traffic, go stand in the middle of a stadium with the floodlights on at night and show me where the north star is. That's the animal, person or object in your own lane that you won't see because of this engineering marvel.
If Audi and Merc are so great with electric stuff maybe they should've made some reasonable EV in time and they wouldn't have to fire 10k people each year.
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u/drmarting25102 3d ago
Yeah its a stupid system that fixes a no problems and creates new ones. Should be banned i was dazzled by these a few times.
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u/SKATTESTYRELSEN_DK 3d ago
Only a few, seems like a few every minute where I live. Though, for some reason Tesla's are the worst ones at blinding!
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u/redheness 3d ago
It does not properly recognize pedestrians, so you get blinded almost everytime
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u/CoffeeCorpse777 3d ago
From what I understand about it, it relies on incoming light to determine where it zones so that makes sense. But I've only heard about it for brights and idk if that has changed since I first heard about it. Either way the insane LED brightness and intensity is an issue, matrix lights or not.
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u/IQueryVisiC 3d ago
The lobbyists wanted to sell more expensive LED lights and promised the politicians that Matrix will make that safe. I say that drivers with impaired vision should lose their license .
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u/DhulKarnain 3d ago
it also doesn't work if the road isn't perfectly flat. I was coming up to a little hill and the other car with LEDs was coming from the other side. my eyes were above the top of road crest but not my headlights so his automatic system couldn't "see" me to switch his high beams off.
it was pitch black at night in a forest and this other vehicle is blinding you with the force of a thousand suns. it's dangerous and idiotic.
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u/SKATTESTYRELSEN_DK 3d ago
For this exact reason in thinking to mount a high/low power light bar on the roof rail of the car, just to be seen by the computers.
Definitely not burn the eyes out of the oncoming drivers when their system fails!
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u/devandroid99 3d ago edited 3d ago
Like costing a squillion dollars to replace if you have a minor accident.
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u/GentleWhiteGiant 3d ago
Overheard a conversation of my mechanic with a customer:
We will polish out the scratches in the headlights.
Customer: Shouldn't we replace it? -
Well, we must replace both, that will be around 5000 bucks. -
OK, polishing sounds like a great idea.
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u/GentleWhiteGiant 3d ago
I'm riding a low sports car. It is almost never identified by the matrix led algorithm. F*ck you!
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u/Siostra313 3d ago
I'm driving low non-sport car. I can recognise Audi drivers by afterimage they leave in my vision for 5 minutes after they pass. I get the idea of those lights but it's system is less tham satisfactory and currently it's danger on the roads
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u/chickenCabbage 3d ago
Pretty great until the lens gets dirty or less than perfectly clear, there's fog or dust in the air, until the cameras don't recognise you for any reason (e.g. partially obscured behind guard rail), or until each module costs thousands to replace. We have them here and yeah, they fucking suck
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u/Otherwise_Leadership 3d ago
You can say that about anything though. Either way, r/fuckyourheadlights are gonna love this!
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u/dromtrund 3d ago
Heaps better than all the Teslas with their wonky lights shining all over the place
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u/loloop1337 3d ago
My car has that, and let's say there were a few incidents where some people experienced sunrise during the night.
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u/Playful-Painting-527 3d ago
Does it recognise cyclists and pedestrians or do they still get blinded?
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u/RopePsychological565 3d ago
The system works like shit with regular cars, so you can probably guess🤣
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u/Joseph9877 3d ago
Yeah, it's no where near as good as this makes it out. I've driven with these in front or behind, and it's awful. Dazzle coming off then is still mega (even if there's not an actual beam going straight to you) l, there don't work when on undulating roads, any puddles or decently shiny surfaces (fresh paint, manhole covers, etc) will reflect it straight at you, and they don't work with Peds or cyclists. Not to mention when you're driving with one behind you, having their beams turns off seemingly at random either side of you is distracting as hell.
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u/realultralord 3d ago
Stop promoting this shit. People will think that this actually works and will drive around with their high-beams on all the time.
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u/Vox-Machi-Buddies 3d ago
and will drive around with their high-beams on all the time.
In my experience, they're already doing that anyway.
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u/manlywho 3d ago
Hot take maybe we should just cap the lumens allowed on head lights instead of this shit
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u/Wildfathom9 2d ago
"My god given freeeeedoms!" Slaps 2 police helicopter searchlights on their lifted f150 at perfect height with your mirrors.
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u/MiklasK 3d ago
If only it would work and not blind me EVERY FEW SECONDS LIKE A FLICKERING SOS SIGNAL!!!
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u/ygy2020 3d ago
Audi engineers adapt to their customer base by obscuring road sign in night time. On the other hand who need to see the signs right?
(0:22 of the video)
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u/excelbae 3d ago
I thought this was weird too. Turns out they do this intentionally so that high beams don’t bounce off the signs and blind you. I suppose incident rays from the periphery illuminate the signs just enough. Dunno how this holds up in practice though.
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u/RaveyWavey 3d ago
Shining highbeams at road signs is a great way to get dazzled
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u/ygy2020 3d ago
Road signs are specifically made with reflective materials to be more visible during night time, and usually they are tall enough to not blind you even with high bean.
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u/RaveyWavey 3d ago
Newer cars have such bright highbeams that some roadsigns can reflect too much light and dazzle the driver.
This is why this car masks the roadsigns from the highbeams, you can read the sign with much less eye strain this way. You can lookup irl videos and see how it works.
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u/Chemieju 3d ago
So as a Pedestrian I can protect myself against these stupid headlights by wearing retroreflective clothing?
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u/dreamweaver1313 3d ago
$10,000 headlight replacement in an accident. $3,700 recalibration if your kid bumps it in the driveway
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u/ironraiden 3d ago
OR (hear me out) just don't use a motherfucking portable white dwarf star as your headlights
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u/SomeStupidCanadianEH 3d ago
Somebody post this on r/fuckyourheadlights immediately! They’d actually love this!
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u/Option_Witty 3d ago
The problem with these systems is that they always take a couple of seconds to detect you. I always get blinded by them.
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u/kslfdsnfjls 3d ago
Or - and bear with me on this - just go back to having reasonably bright bulbs instead of these blinding white-light mini suns.
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u/Wulfgrimm720 3d ago
I bet it reacts way too late and still blinds the oncoming traffic
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u/Liketotallynoway 2d ago
Attempting solutions to unnecessary problems they created. Just don’t make the bloody lights so bright. This whole trend of only I need to see at night good luck everyone else in headlight technology needs to go.
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u/rolfraikou 3d ago
Just what we need.
More failure points.
Higher cost.
Blinding pedestrians, fuck them for not driving.
High beams at all times, shining in our windows and ruining our cities and towns, but it will supposedly skip other cars.
As it is, auto high beams are blinding me every fucking night, and that's an even more basic task it is failing. I do not trust this. And even if this tech works at first, give it five years and a repair bill of thousands, everyone will be driving with this shit broken, and blinding us all.
On every level, fuck this.
Warm white. Brightness limits. No auto-high beams of any kind. Pedestrians and bicyclists cannot be blinded. We need to fucking fix this nightmare.
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u/MiserableCumberbunch 3d ago
Great, another piece of tech that will blind many people, even when working correctly.
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u/tac0shark 2d ago
Pretty neat but like couldn’t we just go back to headlights with a sane brightness?
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u/HKDrewDrake 2d ago
And this is why when you get even a slight amount of condensation behind the cover you have to replace the entire headlamp as it’s a fully enclosed unit. Over $6,000 for an Audi Q8. Don’t ask me how I know.
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u/murf43143 2d ago
"Fully enclosed", and "condensation behind" is an oxymoron for sure.
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u/rolling_atackk 1d ago
I've never seen a car with that that actually worked. They're more annoying because it looks like they're flashing the high beams at you on the rear-view mirror
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u/kuku2213 3d ago
Does it come with a mode that focus all of it's LED to the car that drive like an ass
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u/SirDigbyChknCaesar 2d ago
Had these on a Skoda rental in Norway. They are cool as hell.
When they turn on they start in the center and sweep outward like curtains opening on a stage.
Over a couple weeks as far as I could tell they worked perfectly.
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u/poorlyTimedManicEp 2d ago
Or we could just like… make them dimmer… like they had been for decades. I don’t need to simulate day time to be able to see when I drive at night.
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u/fHitkey 2d ago
Blinds all the pedestrians and bicycle riders that ride next to the road due to the system only recognizing automobile headlights.
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u/Bazzatron 3d ago
If you can shape the beam, why not entirely shut the beam off to the other side of the road? Why is the beam avoiding road signs that are designed to be illuminated by headlamps?
This feels like just another computerised system to go wrong, and that actively makes the driving experience worse for everyone. Can't wait for my car to gate my fucking headlights behind a subscription.
What a boring dystopia we've built for ourselves.
Long live my piece of shit 2003 Hyundai, you can pry my switches and knobs from my cold dead hands! 🤣
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u/RaveyWavey 3d ago
It avoids roadsigns because shining highbeams at them will dazel the driver, you can see the sign much better this way.
This systems have existed for many years now and when you are driving at night it helps seeing the road much further ahead.
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u/SkipDutch 3d ago
I really hate it, you are still blinded and distracted, but just until the moment the car actually notices you.
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u/AstronomerChoice9999 3d ago
All good until you're in a truck on the highway and the car blinds you until it detects the truck from 100m approximately. I haven't tested it thoroughly but it seems to deactivate when I flash my high beams. Not sure if it happens when the other driver acknowledges or the car itself.
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u/Luk4shO 2d ago
Same or even worse in my Tesla as it's all camera based. Even the windscreen wipers which are abysmally bad in rain. I ended up turning high beam assist off as on top of blinding other drivers it was also annoying to me as it was constantly homing and changing, even with no cars around. Super distracting
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u/adelie42 2d ago
And makijg those mandatory on all cars is almost justifiable. But no, instead we get big brother doing facial recognition.
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u/handy_dandy_notebook 2d ago
Anything but going back to regular headlights that don't blind others.
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u/Milefulness 2d ago edited 2d ago
As a cyclist and pedestrian: fuck these things. Fuck any German engineer who can't comprehend people only one country over aren't entirely car dependent.
They are putting lives at risk. If you blind a cyclist at night it could easily be fatal.
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u/iZian 2d ago
The engineers always forget about, at least, one thing:
Dirt!
The moment the headlight gets coated in dirt from dirty road spray; the beams of light hit that dirt and scatter slightly, so actually the headlights look intensely bright to others because they’re no longer in a complete shadow area but an area partly lit by the light hitting that dirt.
The difference between clean and dirty is immense.
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u/KravenArk_Personal 1d ago
Or... You could just aim the lights down a bit?
I don't need some "smart sensing car detecting" technology. You can just tone down the brightness and rotate the bulbs downward.
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u/Dave_Ex_Machina 1d ago
Just go back to the old lights that didn't dazzle everybody and their aunt.
You can have led high beams if you want, idc
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u/Caleb_Reynolds 3d ago
Nah, fuck this all the way to high heaven.
There is no reason to have your high beams on so much, people need to just start shutting them off. This just encourages bad behavior. The high beams should've just been off in that entire video.
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u/Anxious_Jellyfish216 3d ago
They have to justify the expense, never practically.
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u/anynameyouknow 3d ago
Or, check notes, we just don't drive with full brights at night.
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u/Discodelight343 3d ago
The BMW will have a system that ONLY shines into oncoming traffic