When this thread inevitably fills up with Tesla fans, I have a serious question: Is it particularly difficult to turn off the high beam in Tesla cars? I keep wondering why so many Teslas keep blinding me on dark roads.
I used to be able to safely drive my 1982 Jeep CJ5 at night with its 5 3/4" sealed-beam 55W halogen 5006 headlights. Once my eyes adjusted, I could safely see far enough ahead to drive at 55 mph and - experimentally verified - stop in time for deer standing in the road, even with a wobbly vehicle and without ABS). Then HIDs and came out, and people with sealed-beam and replaceable bulb halogens started putting in painful blue-tinted bulbs. I upgraded to replaceable bulbs with high-brightness 65W H4 bulbs, but didn't go blue because I'd never look like a new, fancy HID vehicle and I didn't want to blind other drivers. Now my 65W bulbs are the least bright lights on the road, and I don't drive the Jeep at night because it's just not safe.
I suppose that I could get an LED ring and new high-brightness LED bulbs with a fan on the back, but I'm already higher than the trunk of smaller cars and I don't want to be "that guy" who I often see behind me with the lifted truck inches from my bumper when I'm not driving the jeep.
At least it's a little safer than the people who don't understand their auto headlights and drive in the rain with only the DRLs illuminated and no running lights visible from the back. Bulbs are cheap, and they last forever these days, there's no reason to drive with them turned off.
I rarely drive at night anymore for the same reason. When I have to, I try to do so with a freshly cleaned windshield, that helps a decent bit. Another trick is to watch the outside line of the lane/road so you're not looking into the oncoming headlights as much. But I do agree that headlights seem to have gotten brighter and brighter. And many aren't adjusted at the proper angles, either. But also, my eyes probably aren't as good as they were in decades past.
But also, their auto-leveling can be subpar (https://tesla-info.com/tips/headlight-alignment.php). So you maybe blinded by low beam lights that are mis leveled.
Maybe this is a more common thing that people need to adjust...
A lot of AI adoption is based on this sort of thing.
If the car is in autopilot, it requires the auto high beams to be on, but using autopilot at night is not something I would be comfortable with.
[0] https://www.popsci.com/technology/infrastructure-bill-car-he...
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/business/us-approves-smar...
I haven't paid too much attention, but I believe auto-high-beams are turned on when you use autopilot, and then need specifically turning off. I do find that when auto beams are turned on, the car is less inclined to respond to me when I try to operate the lights manually.
I was wondering "is it the drivers, the UI, or the cars?". Maybe if we all start flashing brights at them it will drive service appointments and some kind of fix?
If you buy a pre-2021 Tesla with a round steering wheel, it can mostly function as a normal car.
The worst offenders are pickup trucks that get a 6" lift without readjusting their lights. They end up with everyone around flashing their brights at them, and instead of getting the hint, they just flash their brights right back. Plus a lot of drivers think they need to have their fog lights on just so everyone knows they are bigger or something...
To make matters worse, stock lights tend to be way brighter than necessary, especially for taller vehicles. It's at the point now where 1/10 mornings I end up flipping my rear view and putting a hand in front of my driver's side mirror just so I can see in front of me.
I've had a few instances where an SUV or pickup is stopped behind me at an intersection, lighting up the interior of my car to the point that all my windows become mirrors; and I just have to sit there until they turn their lights all the way off, just so I can see the road in front of me.
We are long overdue for some regulation in headlight brightness/angle regulation. It's become one of the most significant safety risks we have driving, and it should be trivial to fix.
For 99% of Teslas, you just push on the left stalk to toggle the high beams just like most other cars. For the <1% that drive a Model S Plaid that has a yoke and no stalks, yes, it's hard. You have to go through the touch screen.
That said, Teslas do have auto high beams. But yeah, it doesn't work well at all. The problem is that as of a recent update a couple months ago, if you're driving on Autopilot, auto high beams is forced on.