Technology and modernism were to have saved us all from mundane toil a long time ago. Postmodernism brought with it ongoing complications, leaving many pipe smokers sitting in their Eames lounge chairs puzzled, and wondering what the hell happened. Back in the time of supersonic thinking, automakers embraced a modern direction not only in design and engineering, but also in marketing. Copywriters and ad men tasked with naming these great leaps forward in technology came up with names like Twilight Sentinel, or Autronic Eye. Shown here is a still operating Autronic Eye in a 1967 Cadillac. The photon sensing eye peered forward, and dropped the headlamps to a low-beam setting as an automated courtesy to oncoming motorists, leaving the Cadillac driver to embrace a motoring experience of fully modern luxury.
Wasn’t it called the “Autotronic Eye”? Those were the days when the automakers waxed lyrical about their inventions: DynaFlow, Hydramatic, Power Glide, Electromotive (GM’s locomotive division). I knew in the early 70’s that the poetry had run dry when GM introduced a shock absorber stabilizing system for truck campers: “Elimi-pitch”. Ugh!
That was a cool option in a great time. The schmucks running GM today could never
come up with something so innovative today with such a cool name. My Monte Carlo
has a steering stabilizer in it called “The Pleasurizer” LOL!
Does GM still use the “Twilight Sentinel” name for their automatic headlights? I know they did at least until the early 2000s.
I doubt that the Autronic Eye worked well in real life. I had a 1988 T-Bird with a more modern version, and it did all kinds of crazy things– “syncing up” with flashing traffic lights, turning on the high beams when oncoming cars dimmed theirs, going haywire from large reflective signs, etc. There was a dial to adjust the sensitivity, but if I set it to avoid acting up in those situations, it wouldn’t activate the brights at all. After a few days, I ended up shutting it off before the stupid thing got me arrested.
I suspect that’s why automatic dimmers went extinct until just recently. Now they use cameras that can distinguish headlights from reflections and other random light sources, so they should actually work as intended.