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Comment by cjsuk | Hacker News Reader

This sounds expensive and unreliable and will just result in very expensive headlight assemblies that have to be replaced entirely. Also inability to get the parts to fix them a decade down the line.

This is already a problem with some vehicles with relatively simple lamp assemblies.

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They will certainly be more complex in the sense that software will control the areas in the drivers view to be illuminated, but headlight assemblies that respond to steering position and car pitch angle are already expensive and burdened with electromechanical mechanisms to direct the light. They make a large difference in safety though.

TI DLP will allow this to happen without all of the electromechanical mechanisms. The DLP technology has been around for 20 years.

> TI DLP will allow this to happen without all of the electromechanical mechanisms.

Do we not count a DLP as an electromechanical device?

Well, I did hesitate when I was writing that statement, and technically you are right that microscopic mirrors positioned by electrostatic forces are electromechanical. :)

My original point, and what my complete sentence said, is that the this one large solid state chip is able to serve as in advanced automotive lighting functions without all of the (currently used) electromechanical mechanisms. It really is quite different and has unique advantages. Here's a YouTube video that explains the operation of a DLP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nb8mM3uEIc

DLP projectors have been around for decades and have proven reliable.

Yes but do you stick them to the front of your car?

I would do this in a heartbeat if it weren’t so expensive, just for the magical day when I can print “YOUR LEFT BRAKE LIGHT IS BROKEN” on someone’s rear view window (and then get pulled over while the cops try to find a law against it).

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