BMW laser headlight demo CES 2015

Pretty amazing applications of focused targeted lighting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvK5WC4ns0

That's really is amazing!

The rich get all the good stuff.

The future looks bad ass. Bet its not cheap though

So goddamn cool. Hyundai needs to rename the genesis coupe back to the Tiburon and get those so I can get a shark with frickin laser beams on it. Or corvette needs to do a mako shark car. Either way.

Yeah, great, I'm super excited to start getting photon-cannon-sniped as a "large animal" every time I'm on my motorcycle.

pinchvalve wrote: The rich get all the good stuff.

Until it breaks and then they sell it at a deep discount to the rest of us...

Now that I am in my Carlsberg years I'd always pay for the best lighting I coul get. The laser pointer to the pedestrians and large animals really appeals to me, as these are the things that I struggle most with when driving at night.

The lighting system targets the deer early, so they can more accurately jump in front of you.

(Pete had a deer stick his antlers through his drivers window one warm evening.)

This goes down as a plus for the Photon Cannon!

pinchvalve wrote: The rich get all the good stuff.

At first. Someone's gotta fund development. Remember that newfangled electronic ignition, fuel injection, disk brakes and hydraulics?

so....either I could either buy a Dodge Dart or Laser Headlights to go with my BMW? I'm sure the costs are similar.

I don't remember having any problems driving at night. I can even use my high beams when no one is coming my way.

But where would we be if no one created strawman problems so they can $ell you the $olution?

(Cue the person that tells me I wanna go back to the days of manual wipers and hand cranking the engine!)

I'd pay for it as an option. Deer suck.

"narrow passage guidance lights" eh?

Seems to me if you can't tell with your eyes if that gap between the tractor trailer and the jersey barrier is big enough for your car to fit through, you probably just shouldn't try to fit through it, even if your headlights tell you that there is technically enough room.

Neat tech for sure though. I'm more interested in seeing what these look like if you're a car (or motorcycle) on a dark road coming toward a car equipped with these though. Also would get pretty annoying if you're standing on a busy street corner waiting to cross and cars are constantly "illuminating" you with a bright laser-beam of light.

Wonder how much of this stuff will actually end up to be DOT-legal.

bentwrench wrote: The lighting system targets the deer early, so they can more accurately jump in front of you. (Pete had a deer stick his antlers through his drivers window one warm evening.) This goes down as a plus for the Photon Cannon!

no, it's to blind the deer so they will run even more aimlessly into the road and have even less of a chance of jumping over your car or avoiding you :)

My current headlights may not be so smart, but it only costs a few bucks to replace a bulb when it burns out. I'm betting it'll cost a bit more to fix that setup when it fails. If it is truly laser lighting, can we boost up the power and drop the deer dead in its tracks before it hits my car?

more E36 M3 to go wrong... and more E36 M3 to add unnecessary complexity and costs to cars... then, of course, it will become mandated safety equipment because think of teh childrens and the cheapest new cars on the road will cost over $50k...

You can never have lights that are too good. I've upgraded the lights in just about every vehicle I own. There are probably people out there who think the sealed beam crap is good. I'd love to try this.

Progress is good. Sometimes things don't work out, but you've gotta push the boundaries to find out what will.

That's some serious tech. And BMW spent some serious coin on that demo.

ebonyandivory wrote: I don't remember having any problems driving at night. I can even use my high beams when no one is coming my way. But where would we be if no one created strawman problems so they can $ell you the $olution? (Cue the person that tells me I wanna go back to the days of manual wipers and hand cranking the engine!)

Out of curiosity, what age range are you in? Once I hit 40 the game changed dramatically.

I have nothing bad to say about this technology as long as it works as advertised. This is a pretty clear cut example of using technology to help drivers in a way that actually benefits enthusiasts instead of just bothering them and benefitting all the people that don't really care about cars to begin with.

novaderrik wrote: more E36 M3 to go wrong... and more E36 M3 to add unnecessary complexity and costs to cars... then, of course, it will become mandated safety equipment because think of teh childrens and the cheapest new cars on the road will cost over $50k...

Even better, can't wait until the "aftermarket" companies (you know, the ones responsible for "plug and play" HIDs into halogen reflector housings?), make the knockoff versions. I'm sure Joe Blow in his civic with his "laser light" retrofit will be sure to aim them perfectly, and the control module will be top-notch. More likely, he'll just be blinding everyone on the road three times as much as he currently is with his import tuner HID retro....

ZOO wrote:

ebonyandivory wrote: I don't remember having any problems driving at night. I can even use my high beams when no one is coming my way. But where would we be if no one created strawman problems so they can $ell you the $olution? (Cue the person that tells me I wanna go back to the days of manual wipers and hand cranking the engine!)

Out of curiosity, what age range are you in? Once I hit 40 the game changed dramatically.

I've been 40 for four years now! Still never thought I needed more light... Or if I did, I swapped to better headlights and fogs.

I could use more lights facing rearward to blind the shiny happy people that tailgate though!

God dang horse on the side of the road!

Trackmouse wrote: God dang horse on the side of the road!

yeah, but can the lazer beams take down this guy?