Turquoise Lights for Autonomous Cars
vux984 writes:
Never submitted a story before, but thought this was interesting, and it was the first I'd heard of it. I thought it was actually a pretty good idea.
As some cars gain more autonomy, it's probably helpful if they have a way to signal their intentions to other road users. Concept cars have explored this idea for some time-we've seen demos of cars using their headlights to project crosswalks in front of pedestrians or using exterior panels to communicate to a cyclist that the car has seen them, or just emote to everyone nearby.
As is often the case when an idea goes from concept to reality, the result in practice is a little less futuristic. Mercedes says it picked turquoise for the marker lights in the headlight and taillight clusters as well as the side mirror because the color is differentiated enough from other colored lights that road users might encounter while driving; and human factor research points to turquoise as the optimal color for this application.
All other driving assistance systems, including Tesla's so-called Full Self Driving and General Motor's Super Cruise, require the driver to pay attention to what's happening around the vehicle. Mercedes' Drive Pilot allows the driver to take their eyes off the road continuously until the system alerts the driver of a need to take over such as when traffic speeds up. In the meantime, drivers can surf the Internet or play games on the car's big center screen. (Sensors in the car ensure the driver does not fall asleep, though.)
The light blue color was selected because it's eye-catching and it won't be confused with anything else. It's not similar to the color of any other lights on a passenger car but it's also clearly different from the darker blue used by police and other emergency vehicles.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.