Originally Posted by
BarracksSi
[i] Automotive low beams are required to have a cutoff pattern at about headlight level with a slight upwards flare towards the side of the road opposite of traffic (to the left for UK/Japan, to the right for everyone else). High beams are really only slightly brighter but without any cutoff.
Another interesting thing about high beams is that they are always halogen lights, even if the low beams on the car are HID. Seems obvious (need to have instant turn-on, etc.), but I never really thought about it until I drove a car with HID headlights. I don't like the two different colors though; I can't wait until all car headlights (plus high beams) are LED-based.