ABOUT 4 YEARS AGO VOLVO RELEASED A “world first” High Beam Active Control feature for some of their vehicle models in Europe and we are still fascinated by it!
How many times have you been driving along a very dark road at night and you are flicking your high beams on, then flicking them off in light of oncoming traffic. You flick them back on, you flick them back off. You flick them back on, you flick them back off.
Is it annoying? Or is it just a fact of being on the road at night?
There are all kinds of technologies available in vehicles in this day and age. Some vehicles have sensors to turn the wipers on when it starts raining, some vehicles have been manufactured without a physically hand-held handbrake and some vehicles have seats that can warm up in advance for you on a cold Winter’s morning (yes please!) And what about the self-parallel-parking vehicles such as the Volkswagen Tiguan? That’s right – have enough courage to let go of the steering wheel and let the car reverse and turn into the parking space by itself! I dare you!
(It’s actually a lot of fun).
Nothing is as simple as it used to be. In fact, we’d probably get bored if things were as simple as they used to be. We have all become used to having the choices, the options, the glitz and the glamour.
All I know is that when it comes to cars, the amount of technological options available is actually a very good thing! With advancements in technology and a mix of customer curiosity and thirst for control and autonomy, manufacturers have been improving the safety and reliability of our cars for quite some time now. Cars no longer get you from A to B, but in fact will tell you when your service is due and will also save you from sliding across a very wet road. You could say that we have gotten to a point in history where we actually have a relationship with our cars. We communicate how fast we want to go and the car responds and communicates back to us.
Despite this interactive relationship with my car however, I was of the thought that flicking my high-beams on and off whilst driving in the dark was just another simple fact of life. But good old Volvo has decided that having to flick high-beams on and off is preposterous!
(My own expression there).
They have designed a technology they’ve termed Active High Beam Control so that drivers no longer have to worry about remembering to flick their high-beams off in the event of oncoming traffic. Sensors can “read” when oncoming traffic is in the vehicle’s field of vision and will automatically shade the lights for the oncoming driver. Once the oncoming car has driven past, the high-beams go back to lighting the way for you.
I have to admit that after discovering the existence of such a feature, I was won over by the concept. Having to turn my high-beams on and off suddenly did seem preposterous and I was wondering where I could get my hands on one of these cars. There certainly are many times when I forget to turn the high-beams off and the poor driver coming towards me has to fight back high-beam for high-beam.
Unfortunately this amazing feature will not become available to Volvo in Australia.
However, there will be many satisfied drivers in Europe, knowing that they can just sit back and relax, allowing more concentration on the dark road before them than ever before.
Cheers to safety and all that jazz, I say. Now all Volvo need to do is to work out when they will bring this awesome technology over to this side of the great big divide. After all, we have longer highways to drive than anybody else does in Europe!
