Okay, sure, I’ll admit I’m late to this news, as Mercedes-Benz’ press release about this was, let’s see, over a year ago. But, in my defense, the concept behind their press release is about the exact same thing that I proposed over a decade ago, way back in January of 2016.
How did I miss this when it was first announced? Maybe it’s not really surprising, considering the spectrum of things I miss is vast and widely varied, but considering that, again, I had this same idea myself, so you would think perhaps I’d be a little more aware. Well, I’m not.
Enough preamble: the idea is a fundamentally good one, and I’m happy to see it being implemented. The idea is simple: a warning light that illuminates when a given car is under autonomous control, instead of human control. Here’s how Mercedes-Benz describes the light and its reasoning:
“The exterior lighting now permitted by special exemption indicates to other road users whether the conditionally automated driving function is activated. This also allows traffic authorities and police to recognize the system status more easily and determine whether the driver is allowed to engage in other activities during conditionally automated driving. The special marker lights are integrated into the front and rear lights as well as the side indicators in the exterior mirrors.”
…and here’s how I described essentially the same concept back in 2016:
“Here’s what I’m thinking: any car that has some level of autonomous capability – let’s say at the level of a Tesla Model S or better – would be required to have a roof-mounted light. This light should be visible from 360° around the car…
It would be a gesture of openness, almost a respectful gesture to people who still drive their own cars. In the early stages of development, when autonomous cars really have yet to prove themselves en masse, I think drivers will be more open and willing to allow them to share the roads if they make their presence clear.
This can also help on the opposite side of things, too. For those who do genuinely believe in the safety of autonomous cars, and, even, their superiority over human drivers, those purple lights could be a beacon of perceived safety for some drivers.”
So, this light would be a way for other drivers, traffic monitors, emergency vehicle drivers, law enforcement, and so on to be able to easily tell which cars are being operated by humans or machines, and adjust their expectations and behavior accordingly. I think this type of warning/indicator lamp will prove to be very useful, and I’m happy to see it actually happening in reality.
I’m just not crazy about the way it’s being implemented, really. And I may be too late to complain about that, because there is already an SAE standard for these lights, SAE J3134:
The SAE standard, which I think so far is only being implemented by Mercedes-Benz for their cars that are equipped with their Level 3 automated driving system, mandates that the color of these lamps be a sort of blue-green or turquiose.
Mercedes has also implemented these lamps into existing headlight and taillight housings, as well as on the door mirrors, where the turn indicator repeaters usually are.
Personally, I think neither of these choices is ideal; blue-green lights I think are too easy to confuse for green lights, which already have a very specific and important meaning: go.
Then there’s the fact that police use blue lights, and the possibility for a car with blue-green lights to be confused with a police vehicle is a very real possibility, too.
In poor lighting conditions, the possible confusion of green street lights or police lights with autonomous vehicle lights just seems like a can of worms not worth opening, or a hornet’s nest not worth kicking, whichever annelid/insectiod metaphor you prefer. I think purple is a better color because it would be hard to confuse for pretty much any standard light color currently used.
Plus, I think a roof-mounted light makes more sense than one in lighting units that are already crowded with features. Why cram these into the taillight assemblies, which already have to do so much communication as it is?
Plus, a roof-mounted lamp will just be more visible in close, dense traffic, and be, ideally, visible from even several cars away, even in denser urban traffic situations. Plus, it’ll give car designers a fun new component to work with.
Was I the first to talk about the idea of an autonomy indicator lamp? Maybe in the sense of talking about it publicly, though I have found a reference to the SAE beginning the drafting process on this standard as early as 2015. But I think I was the first to address this in the press. It even made it into my book in 2019:
I wonder if this standard will actually catch on; if so, I suspect the current SAE standard will be the one to be implemented, as I don’t think carmakers are eager to add roof-mounted light pods to their cars. And, the standard already has a foothold, at least a little bit.
Really, I’ll be happy to see these lights become standard equipment for AVs; but I still think they should consider purple over blue-green. SAE, you know how to get ahold of me.
Top graphic images: Mercedes-Benz; Tesla
Honestly a digital pictures of the light don’t really mean much, would have to see it in person. But if anyone is confusing these with traffic lights, they shouldn’t be driving. Because even if it was the same color green, traffic lights also have the distinction of not being mounted on cars.
The argument against blue (looks like po po) is the same argument against roof mounting it.
Philosophical Riddle:
If a car driving under autonomous control has no human on board and no human around to see it, are the special exterior marker lights still visible?
Hmmm…
In the Watchdogs game series the cars have a little (A) that illuminates in the forward and rear windscreens when they’re in autonomous mode, I kinda like that
Agree that the color they chose is easy to confuse (and not great for color blindness, but that ship sailed with red/green stoplights), but I think this is a better approach than the roof-mounted idea: the more angles the light is visible from, the better.
I like the idea of a roof mounted light being visible 360 around the car. But in practice there are probably some limitations. Like if you are sitting in a sedan and there is a tall SUV/Van next to you, you’d wouldn’t be able to see the light. And then there are roof rails/racks and such.
So yeah, maybe down near the lights isn’t a bad idea.
My concern is visibility when the other lights are on, and if it’s daytime and there are DRLs there are some concerns.
Yeah but at least red/green stoplights have a positional marker in addition to color. Top= stop. Low= go. Didn’t used to be mandated but my understanding is now it is? This being in the same general area as other lights with other meanings and no location-based discernment is worse.
You know there will be people who see the light as an invitation to mess with the AV and see how it reacts. But overall, good idea, as long as it’s widely and thoroughly publicized so a meaningful portion of the driving public understands what it means.
“This also allows traffic authorities and police to recognize the system status more easily and determine whether the driver is allowed to engage in other activities during conditionally automated driving.”
I can’t wait to see some Amazon version of this light on top of a cosmetically-deficient 2004 Kia Optima in an attempt by the driver to get away with using his phone while driving.
No iffense Jason, but perhaps MB’s idea is better? when driving, i’m more focused on the car ahead, and if i hit that car that’s my fault, and it’s also when I am following that I have the greatest abillity to avoid an accident etc.
your rooftop light, design considerations aside, makes it less visible from the car behind. THere’s pretty limited value in seeing the car behind being driven autonomously, per argument above. I think MB had the better idea to make it visible as they implemented it.
This is a timely! I was driving home yesterday (in Abu Dhabi) and I passed one of an SUV with these turquoise lights. Not sure what SUV it was, other than it was one of the many Chinese models that all look very similar. I had no idea what it meant then but it makes sense now.
I like the purple idea, but the roof thing looks odd to me. Looks like a dude with a huge head and a really really tiny hat.
They should just have whip antennas on top with lights on the ends. Then it will be like an RC car event.
Anyone using a roof rack would have to move Jason’s light out of the way.
I think it’s pretty clear the industry has completely lost the plot when it comes to lights. Especially GM, but all of them are drinking the kool aid at this point.
“Is that car autonomous, backing up, or just unlocked its doors?”
I really hope this doesn’t become a thing. I don’t see the point. Lighting is there to help drivers interpret where a car is or what it’s about to do.
You shouldn’t be driving any differently around an autonomous car. The light wouldn’t be prompting any change in behavior, so it’s just clutter. And it’s ugly clutter too. Modern cars have too much lighting as it is. The last thing we need is an additional color.
Also, it’s none of your business on the road if I’m driving or the car is. Should we also have a light for other irrelevant things, like whether I’m using the heated seats or the AC?
I know one situation where it would help, if you see a car stopped near the side with it’s flashers on.
With these lights I would know it’s just a broken down AV that’d safe to pass, with a real driver I should look out for delivery drivers or someone that needs help.
That’s a fair point, but couldn’t the AV also have a human in it who needs help?
Current AV systems have odd behaviors where they’ll drive worse than a person (so this is helpful info), and maybe in the future they’ll be more predictable/better than a human driver (so this would be helpful info). It’s just more information, you can choose to ignore it.
Speaking of green lights being potentially confusing, around here the cable/fiber optic company uses green status indicator lights on their roadside equipment boxes. The lights are remarkably distracting for being less than 1” in diameter, especially when they are located near traffic signals.
These lights are ubiquitous in China, for the same purpose. They are everywhere.
But, what about when the vehicle is being driven by a cyborg? They’re both man and machine. Would the light blink or something?
I believe those have a red line that sweeps back and forth menacingly.
By your command.
(Cylons aren’t cyborgs, but good answer.)
In the Ron Moore reboot, they sort of are. A Cylon couple even had a baby.
They’re still all cop. The light will flash blue and red, and you will come quietly, or there will be trouble.
Why not just put a sign on it that says stoodint driver?
I don’t like the turquoise lights. I think they need to be a color that isn’t blinding at night. That’s why tail lights are red, right?
I’m just back from a trip to China and I saw a number of local market cars (new, electric) on highways with similar lights on, that I eventually concluded had to be serving this purpose. But I can’t remember the exact colour. Paging Tycho…
I’ve always thought a good way to indicate a vehicle is under autonomous control is to have the turn signals alternate; sort of like hazards but instead of both left and right flashing at the same time, the left flashes, then the right, left, right, left, right etc. Simple, easy to understand and doesn’t require any extra hardware.
It probably wouldn’t be fun to be behind a vehicle with amber signals doing this, but you’d probably want to pass them ASAP anyway…
On the face of it, it does seem like violet would be a better color than turquoise. However, I do think that a set of same-color lights spread across multiple fixtures is a safer bet than a single roof light, which could theoretically be obscured from view depending on what is happening around the vehicle or what’s on its roof, and that would also possibly throw off the aerodynamics of the vehicle.
Plus, and I say this with all due respect, you seem to celebrate a fun, dorky theme with some of your vehicular suggestions. That’s no shade from me; I dig it. But you’re in the minority. Really, most people don’t want a big beacon on the roof of their luxury car and consumer adoption would be pretty poor if that were the requirement. That, or you’d have hundreds of forum pages full of people trying to figure out how to disable/remove the lamp for a cleaner look, and then it would be a moot point.
Mercedes cheaped out by deciding to use existing lighting and have missed a great opportunity. Since chrome is being phased out of cars, instead of boring blacked out trim they should have replaced window, bumper and grille trim with green/blue/turquoise LED strips that light up Tron-style when the car is in autonomous mode.
It’s not specific to Mercedes. It’s a standard color for “driving autonomously” in China. Feast your eyes on many turquoise lights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Intelligent_Mobility_Alliance
Torch: adds purple light to vehicles
Rest of the world: are these cars now prostitutes?
I thought prostitutes used red lights.
The classy ones use amber to indicate.
You’d lose a ton of cars in Amsterdam if the car had red lights.
Rooooxxxann, you don’t have to put on the red light …
22 Acacia Avenue – it’s the place where we all go
The red light’s burning bright tonight.
To see Charlotte?
well…I think this will increase the take rate on these systems and speed along mass adoption. They’re now a status symbol that you can afford a *fancy* car. The TURBO badge of our day.
I prefer your suggestion. The idea of “autonomous” vehicles flashing greenish lights at each other gives me nightmares.