Pretty Soon, Brake Lights May Get A Whole Lot Smarter

[PanterroR]

The problem of brake lights not distinguishing between gingerly slowing down and rapidly stopping is now being addressed. Researchers at Virginia Tech University are developing smart brake lights. The intelligent braking lights will have a series of LEDs that will distinguish when someone is easing off the speed or slamming on the brakes. How the system works is surprisingly simple.

The bar of lights has three different levels of alert for the drivers behind. When the middle bars glow amber, the car is just slowing. After the braking passes a certain threshold, the outer edges of the bar will glow red in addition to the center amber. And if someone stands on the brakes, the entire bar will flash red. It's a pretty basic idea and could potentially prevent thousands of fender benders yearly.

The system has been in the works for eight years now, but it will finally be shown off at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville starting today.
A light bar like this would have to be added to your vehicle's existing brake lights due to laws and regulations. But with time, who knows? Maybe this system could completely replace the brake lights we currently know.


Source - Jalopnik: News: Pretty Soon, Brake Lights May Get A Whole Lot Smarter

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[coolraoul]

It's too complex.

Flashing brake lights under emergency braking, like many like Mercedes or Opel have, is way better for me. Why the need for two colors and three lighting modes? It's just disturbing. You need to think about the meaning of the thing before actually start to brake...

Whereas flashing red when emergency braking is simple, and the flash makes you react a whole lot faster.

I mean, maybe ther must be an indication of how hard the man before you is braking, like "braking 20% of max", then an indication of how good are his brake discs and pads, like discs 40% good", how good are his tyres (important for braking distance) like "tyres 30%", then the indication of how good are his suspensions, like "suspension front 60% and rear 40%"..

Or maybe the indication of the braking distance calculated by the computer, like "braking 30%, will stop in 60 meters according to calculations that are calculated 70% accurate...

It's also important to know if the man is hitting the throttle, no? And which gear he's in?

To overtake someone, you should know his power, throttle position, it's useful too.



An indication that you release the throttle is a very old idea, but it has been proven completely useless and only disturbing.
The rear lights of a car are important indications, let's not turn them into a Christmas Tree.