Night vision test drive: From Hamas war to night war

• Published date: 28 April 2024
• Author: UDI EZION
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

But there's another war where night vision systems can assist. During nighttime, fewer accidents occur because the roads are emptier, but their consequences are deadlier. It's a result of fatigue but also our difficulty in seeing pedestrians, wildlife, and other vehicles on poorly lit roads

The Cadillac DeVille was the first mass-produced car equipped with a night vision system, back in 2000. Unlike other safety innovations initially launched in luxury cars, such as airbags or laser sensors, night vision systems quickly made their way to ordinary cars. A quarter of a century later, the system remains exclusive equipment primarily found in luxury models.

The BYD F5 we drove tonight is the cheapest electric car in the country with the system installed, priced at 400,000 shekels. Only one car is cheaper with such a system, the French crossover DS7 Crossback ELYSÉE, priced 5,000 shekels lower. Other models with night vision systems, without chains and cannons, are mainly double the price, like the Cadillac Escalade, Porsche Panamera, and Mercedes S-Class.

In the Chinese BYD, the system integrates as part of a technological abundance: three screens, air suspensions allowing terrain height adjustment, a panoramic roof dimmable by electric current, massage seats, and more. All of them, except the whole dashboard, which can rise and fall, we have already encountered in luxury cars one way or another. But is a night vision system such a game-changer?

It wasn't a regular test. We met the F5 with its launch in the country over a year ago. Then it was the first Chinese SUV in the country, with a price tag of a German car. Since then, NIO, XPeng, and Zeekr have arrived in the country, and 400,000 shekels no longer seem exaggerated for a Chinese car. The F5 itself has already found almost 300 customers in the country.

This time we pressed the START button only after sunset. The goal was a night drive testing the night vision system in various scenarios. For the first, we didn't need all of its 489 horsepower. At the Safari in Ramat Gan, they agreed to open the savannah gates for us even during off-hours when it's closed to visiting cars, to see how much the system would help us identify wildlife in a completely dark environment.

The safari organizes tours like these during the night safari, which includes visits to the animal park itself, including with hunters active at night, such as lions. Ilan, my assistant who has been accompanying me in the savannah for five...