High-Tech Headlights That Make Rain, Snow "Disappear"

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I was about to call B.S. on this article...until I actually watched the video of the headlights in action. :eek:

They combined cameras and computers to predict the trajectory of each rain drop. That's impressive enough right there. But how does that help improve visibility in dark, rainy conditions? "If you know where the rain drops are, you can sort of stream light between them," says lead researcher Srinivasa Narasimhan.
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Wow...most impressive.

Now its only a matter of time until they find their way in the next top of the line $200,000 Mercedes :rolleyes:
 
The Article said:
Snowflakes are larger and slower and therefore more difficult to track, which means 15% of light is lost and more than 60% of the snowflakes are avoided.
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Larger and slower makes them more difficult to track...with computers...
 
I'm wondering what purpose this could be useful for, would a torrential rain storm mean that the light doesn't work at all, and snow flakes confuse the light so it's on it's brightest setting?

how much money went into this that could have been put to something more worthwhile?
 
DLP headlights... so then we should be able to put on a light show when we're in the mood. This system should be able to automatically shine the highbeams directly at other cars driving with their highbeams on. Or communicate with other oncomming cars that support that system.................... hmmm not sure I want my car interacting with other cars, pretty sure that will be a thing soon. (probably wifi or something though and not DLP headlight morse code)
 
bh192012 said:
DLP headlights... so then we should be able to put on a light show when we're in the mood. This system should be able to automatically shine the highbeams directly at other cars driving with their highbeams on. Or communicate with other oncomming cars that support that system.................... hmmm not sure I want my car interacting with other cars, pretty sure that will be a thing soon. (probably wifi or something though and not DLP headlight morse code)
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Every blank wall is your own drive-in theatre. At least now people will have a legitimate reason for their ridiculous stereo systems.
 
Terrific. Now I'm sure some nitwits in Congress will want to mandate this, and replacing a headlight will cost $4,000.
 
Now all we need are localized rain storms about a square foot in size. Seriously, I'd like to see this in a more realistic setting where there is rain at least 100' in front of the headlight.
 
Don't care for it much in this application, but with the technology there are a lot of possibilities. Bug zappers, for example. Got an extra $150K? No more bugs!
 
gglenn said:
Terrific. Now I'm sure some nitwits in Congress will want to mandate this, and replacing a headlight will cost $4,000.
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It's already close - I went to get the headlights replaced on my 2006 M35x and it was a $3000 quote from the dealer. I bought a new (to me) car instead.
 
This is fantastic! Now we just need to change the weather so that rain falls in 1-drop deep curtains at exactly 1 meter from the car regardless of the car's speed. Any closer and the system probably does not have enough time or perspective to analyze the drop's trajectory and to light up around it.
We can adopt the other condition much more easily, it just requires some regulations to make sure that only one car runs on the same patch of road at a time, so that there is only one curtain of drops to avoid.

Or did I misunderstand and each ray of light not only shines between the drops in the first curtain, but will also curve to avoid the drops in its trajectory in the next millimeter or centimeter? And curve again ten thousand times to avoid all the drops in the next ten meters?

I wonder if these scientists have any idea of what rain actually is outside of a lab setting with a 1-drop deep curtain of rain.

I have an idea too: Since visibility in rainy weather is not so big of a problem during daylight, why don't we have all cars carry a 50 meters long perch with lamps and tinted glass upfront, to recreate the diffuse sunlight of the daylight?
 
That's pretty neat. Although I'm sure it'll be a long time until it's affordable. Hell even a lot of the lighting they use now is to expensive to be putting on a car. I don't want to have to buy a 2000-3000 headlight if one goes out.
 
I just use the power of the mind. Like the spoon bending child in the Matrix, without the annoying voice and smugness. There is no rain, it's just awesomeplaning. :D
 
IT doesn't make the rain disappear... it makes the rain SMALLER!!!

The shrink ray has been invented!!! I'm getting 2!!!
 
melteye said:
Break out the tinfoil hats!
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I don't think his comment warrants the tinfoil hat. They did after all force air bags into cars and then kids under 10 to ride in the front passenger seat leading to a number of deaths. Not to mention HE washers and driers, flourescent bulbs, low flush toilets, and a million other things.
 
I'm pretty sure I have NEVER seen rain look like long as white streaks in the sky.

Also somewhat sure that the only reason it looks that exaggerated has to do with the sampling rate of the video that's being taken.
 
It does look like that actually. I live in the tropics (we get 20 hurricanes a year), so we get a lot of experience driving through rain with heavy droplets. One hint i've learned is that there a quite a few instances where you can actually see better if you turn your headlights off (Altho not recommended since incoming traffic still needs to see you). The glare reflecting off the raindrops even extends outside the light cone because of the droplets reflecting off each other.

The fact that you can see through a rain curtain means there is a clear path through the rain. If this tech gets advanced enough it really can eventually let you drive through heavy rain at night.
 
Isn't this the same type of stuff we use for space telescopes that use complicated systems to determine shit in the air to bend and flex the mirrors in slight angles to maximize the clarity as it cuts through the atmosphere?

That's all I can think of when I saw it.
 
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