Turquoise taillights tell you this Mercedes is driving autonomously::California and Nevada have approved a test of the new light color.
I wish they had this for my adaptive cruise control so people in front of me would know that’s as fast as I’m going
Or people behind know you’re not jamming on the breaks when someone is or has already turned, it’s just the car doing it…
Kinda wish we’d just leave blue (or off-variants like turquoise) lights for emergency vehicles only.
I like the idea of an indicator, just not the execution.
Emergency vehicles’ lights blink and are on the roof. Using the same color for multiple lights isn’t an issue; see: braking lights and tail lights.
Also judging by the picture it’s more of a white-blue than the bright blue used by emergency vehicles.
They legally can’t be blue which is why they chose turquoise.
Depends on the state. You must live in one of the relatively sane ones.
I live in Oklahoma, where it’s either legal or not enforced. Tow trucks, construction vehicles, you name it. Blue lights everywhere. And not turquoise or some other “technically not blue” loophole color, but like “they bought their overhead lights from a cop car manufacturer and stuck it on their roof as is” solid fucking blue.
I hate it.
I’ve been asking why cars don’t have more obvious visual indicators since I was like 8 years old.
It’s pretty weird that we’re basically just working with 2 sets of lights and blinkers at this point.
For AV’s specifically, a pretty significant/obvious missed feature is some indicator that the car “sees” you. Pedestrians make eye contact with drivers to check if crossing is safe. How is there no equivalent for AV’s??? It’s such an obvious miss.
It’s pretty weird that we’re basically just working with 2 sets of lights and blinkers at this point.
From a usability standpoint, you want to keep emergency signals simple and VERY consistent. Brake lights need to be a solid red for a very good reason.
On a similar theme, every time I get caught in stop and go traffic I wish we had tail lights that indicated letting off the gas. Like an orange light to say, “I’m no longer accelerating but I haven’t applied the brake yet.” I feel like everyone could coordinate traffic flow better with a little extra information, but I fear (much like these turquoise lights and adaptive cruise control) assholes will just game the system anyway to ruin everything.
Especially with a lot of new EVs on the road that use regenerative breaking if your foot is off the gas.
If it’s a Mercedes, that will be a subscription value-add feature. It’s like Boeing with safety features being value-add.
Why not a colour that isn’t already on emergency vehicles? Why not green or purple, something that is clearly distinguishable?
Red and green are hard to distinguish by many color blind people.
As are blue/purple.
It was approved by the states where it is legal, aka california and nevada.
My buddy had a car with green and purple lights but was a restored hearse - like the Ghostbusters car - and it was fucking fabulous.
I feel this is just painting a target on self driving cars for luddites.
If the autopilot without turquoise lights does something dumb, the driver is just another idiot, oh well. If the autopilot with turquoise lights does something dumb, all self driving cars are the devil.
I’m thinking they should be worth half points in games of chicken…
Don’t know why you’re downvoted. This is an honest possibility. They already coalroll cyclists and Priuses.
Oh boy, now when I get hit as a pedestrian I’ll know it was the car and not the rich person!
Would light placement be better like… Idk… Lit up license places, or wheel wells, or something? I guess not because some states already allow that stuff…
Blue bubbles
I could understand why this would be helpful on the front of a car, but I don’t understand why this would be helpful on the back of a car.
For those who are driving behind them? I’m not sure what you’re actually confused about.
Why does knowing that it’s driving autonomously help the driver behind them?
If they are going slower than you’d like. Not taking the merge space you’re giving them. Slowing down for a reason you can’t see. Just sort of generally knowing that the car ahead of you might not drive like a real person.
That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are dozens of good reasons if I put some thought into it.
After driving for 35 years, I still don’t have a baseline for “driving like a real person”.
I have no sense of what to expect, and never have. I wish it made me a better driver, but honestly it’s just from Shite Driver PTSD. They’re everywhere, waiting to surprise us. Trust no one.
I look forward to when self-drivers are the majority and THEN I can start to form new expectations;-)
I’m confused. Have you seriously never encountered a human driver who goes slower than you’d like or doesn’t merge into a space? Sometimes they don’t even know the blinkers are on, or indicate left then swerve suddenly hard right.
For me, especially as a motorbike rider, the Turquoise indicator would give me confidence that the car isn’t going to do something monumentally stupid and get me killed.
Just yesterday I pulled into an exit lane and the car that (was) in front of me suddenly swerved hard into into my lane to cut me off and stop me from illegally overtaking them. Luckily I hadn’t overtaken then, even though they were driving well under the speed limit (even the exit lane had a higher speed limit than what they were doing). At the end of the exit lane they swerved back into their lane and nearly hit someone who had accelerated back up to the speed limit once the idiot slow driver had moved out of their way. Human drivers are far less predictable than robot ones.
Found the person who doesn’t own a Tesla.
My Tesla did monumentally stupid things on the regular on autopilot. Like phantom braking. It would slam on the brakes while doing 65 on the highway because of shadows. You’d be flying over my hood in your bike.
For me, especially as a motorbike rider, the Turquoise indicator would give me confidence that the car isn’t going to do something monumentally stupid and get me killed.
That’s another good reason. It’s basically about managing expectations for the vehicle. Good or bad doesn’t much matter.
It gives you something to text about.
It’s a genuine thought, but it is that as it stands, autopilot may behave erratically and it would be good to inform drivers both in front and to the rear. Emergency collision avoidance brake systems are already known to trigger at random
For something that requires far more complex decisions a special colour light in the rear can alert other drivers that various maneuvers could be taken automatically, such as a decision to change into your lane, normally or in an emergency.
I guess I’m not seeing it as being all that different from emergency collision avoidance systems in cars with drivers in terms of drivers behind them. I hate to be dense about this, but I’m just not seeing why any of those maneuvers would make a difference to the driver behind the car driving autonomously if it was being driven by a human or not. Don’t you have to take the same actions regardless? I’m not suggesting Mercedes not do it. I’m sure people much smarter than me have figured out why this is important.
Maybe all cars with collision avoidance need to have these lights too?
Some indicator of automated collision avoidance (a small “AEB-equipped” sticker) would make sense for that.
The light would be to indicate the self-driving mode is active.
Emergency collision avoidance brake systems are already known to trigger at random
So? They also brake suddenly when a kid runs out onto the road in front of them. Anyone following should have enough of a space cushion to get hard on the brakes and avoid hitting them. Or at least avoid hitting them very hard.
If you plough into them at speed, you’ll push the stopped car forwards and kill the kid.
I mean I agree with what you’re saying, but the light is a helpful reminder to keep a safe distance away. I think AEB should have some sort of notice as well on the back of the car be it a logo, or “AEB-equipped” etc. Make it a size that if you can read it you’re too close.
Look at the pictures in the article. They’re in the front too.
