Reflective coatings on vehicles can be effective solutions for reducing UV damage and heat buildup, ultimately reducing energy consumption, per Quality Auto Glass Tint. But at what cost to people's safety on shared roads?
One Redditor posted a GIF showing a high-tech, ultra-reflective vehicle cruising around a parking lot.
"How is the reflective coating not a danger to other people on the road? This feels hazardous," the original poster wrote.
The video shows a Tesla Cybertruck, which is equipped with an ultra-hard, stainless-steel exoskeleton, shatter-resistant armor glass, and the ability to travel 340 miles on a single charge.
Reddit users were outraged, citing safety concerns, general aesthetics, and the impact of cars on people and the environment.
"Surely, this coating can't be road-legal. You will blind people at night with this thing," one commented.
Heat-reflective paints can cool temperatures by 10 degrees by absorbing and re-emitting heat from the sun, thereby reducing the effects of rising temperatures. From buildings to vehicles and other structures, cool-paint coatings have the potential to be minimally invasive solutions with immediate, positive effects in urban environments.
However, the use of the technology for vehicles such as the one in this Reddit video is questionable at best. Not only is the reflective coating problematic, but so is the design of the vehicle.
The futuristic Cybertruck has been hotly debated because of the dangers it could cause to pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers.
While the vehicles may be controversial, Tesla, in general, is helping transform the future of sustainable transportation by offering increasingly more affordable and efficient electric vehicles, which are made even cheaper by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Redditors didn't hesitate to voice their opinions and concerns about the Cybertruck.
"Cybertruck is banned in EU because it has a hard front with no crumple zone, making it extra dangerous in a crash," someone commented.
"That is one great big pedestrian killer - look at the f****** sharp angles and corners," another user chimed in.
"You don't buy a display of poor taste and conspicuous consumption to be safe, or out of care for other people on the road," another commenter wrote.
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