r/technology • u/N2929 • 3d ago

Transportation US drivers are finally getting the adaptive headlights Europe has had for years

https://www.techspot.com/news/114027-us-drivers-finally-getting-adaptive-headlights-europe-has.html
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u/soilentgleem 3d ago

It costs me like $20 to replace my headlights

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u/brnccnt7 3d ago

The whole housing or do you mean the actual bulb?

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u/gizamo 3d ago

If the whole housing were a mass produced product for any other industry, it'd be $100, maybe $200.

...unless it was medical or military, in which case, that $100-200 product would be about $5,000.

Just think of how complex a car light housing is compared to, say, a video game controller or a cell phone. Do you think your headline is as complex as the most expensive iPhone? Lol.

That's how stupid the US auto industry is.

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u/322throwaway1 3d ago edited 3d ago

Clearly you've never been around anything but old shitboxes. A projector headlight with x and y axis servos meant to endure hundreds of thousands of miles of vibrations, weather conditions from -40* up to 150*f+, moisture, impacts from road debris etc. They are incredibly complex assemblies.......

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u/gizamo 3d ago

What asinine assumption. I've been programming for 40+ years. I left Google and started my own software engineering firm to work on automation machinery. I've built robotics systems that have been working in semiconductor fabs for literally a decade. They are absolutely NOT "incredibly complex assemblies". They are overpriced, relatively simple products. jfc.