They claim a pedestrian without reflectors can be seen from 50 m with low beams. Other source I've seen break it down by the color of clothing; white might be seen from 50 m (160 feet), yellow from 37 m (120 feet), and darker colors even worse, down to black which is visible from a distance too short to react.
High beams are a much different story, of course. And perhaps the numbers for HID lamps on a luxury car are better - at the expense of blinding and distracting the other drivers on the road.
Good lowbeams don't blind other cars. They create a curtain of light that's fairly uniform as bright spots hurt night vision.
At 45 MPH you should stop in under 50 meters in good road conditions. 50 MPH is around 53 meters +/- depending on the vehicle and road conditions.
Reflectors are very useful because they add cushion to that. And believe me that was heavy breaking situation. But, the Uber car did not even start to break.
They claim a pedestrian without reflectors can be seen from 50 m with low beams. Other source I've seen break it down by the color of clothing; white might be seen from 50 m (160 feet), yellow from 37 m (120 feet), and darker colors even worse, down to black which is visible from a distance too short to react.
High beams are a much different story, of course. And perhaps the numbers for HID lamps on a luxury car are better - at the expense of blinding and distracting the other drivers on the road.