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Why we can't have better headlights here in the U.S.

It wouldn't be a European auto show if we weren't teased with at least one mainstream vehicle we can't have here. At the Geneva Motor Show last week, the small but vocal contingent of shooting-brake buffs lamented that the Mazda6 wagon won't be coming to our shores, although they can take comfort in the fact that the vehicle won't get the torquey 250-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine we'll get here. Mercedes-Benz also announced a new headlight technology in Geneva that likely won't be available here anytime soon. It's just the latest in a long line of innovative and potentially lifesaving front-lighting solutions that the federal government doesn't allow in this country due to outdated standards — and a current lack of leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Mercedes-Benz's new Digital Light system that debuted in Geneva uses a computer chip to activate more than a million micro-reflectors to better illuminate the road ahead. The Digital Light headlamps works with the vehicle's cameras, sensors and navigation mapping to adjust lighting for the given location and situation and to detect other road users. The Digital Light technology also serves as an extended head-up display of sorts by projecting symbols on the pavement ahead to alert drivers to, say, slippery conditions or pedestrians in the road. And it can even project lines on the road in a construction zone or through tight curves to show the driver the correct path. Digital Light will be available on Mercedes-Maybach vehicles later this year, although like any technology it's bound to trickle down to less expensive vehicles. That is, if we ever get it here in the U.S. Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads. And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either.

Cadillac Oscars ad shows none of its cars or trucks

Can you sell something without actually showing the product in an ad? While this sounds like a question that Don Draper might have, Cadillac apparently thinks it's possible with at least one of the brand's three upcoming Oscars commercial. Days after whiting-out the company's social media presence in preparation for the new campaign, some of the advertising is finally here. Titled Dare Greatly, the first released spot goes for a stripped down, minimalist aesthetic. The entire piece is made up of voiceover and ambient noise set over slow-motion driving shots of New York City. Viewers catch a few out-of-focus glances at a Cadillac interior, but otherwise the only vehicles in the commercial are the ones parked along the street. The speech that is the centerpiece of the ad is all about the glory in just making an attempt, rather than criticizing others. "There is no effort without error and shortcoming," it says at one point. According to The Detroit Free Press, the text comes from a lecture by Teddy Roosevelt in 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris. Cadillac's commercial never actually attributes the words to the former president, but the company is playing up the connection on social media. The full 1:30 version of the spot is already streaming online, but Cadillac is cutting the commercial into 30-second and 60-second versions to air during the Oscars, according to The Detroit Free Press. Of the brand's two other ads during the awards show, at least one of them shows the company's vehicles.

Autoblog Podcast #318

Toyota back on top, Barrett Jackson, Crowdsourcing your Dodge Dart payments, Nissan and Toyota double down on pickups
Episode #318 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Zach Bowman and Michael Harley talk about Toyota regaining the No. 1 sales crown, getting your friends and family to buy you a Dodge Dart, Barrett-Jackson, and Toyota and Nissan remaining committed to their pickup trucs. We wrap with your questions, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Keep reading for our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #318: