There was an in-depth article in DrivingVisionNews last October which looked at the three proposed fixes and had this to say (this is a small clip from a large article I don't own the copyright to):
Transport Canada in February 2016 proposed three possible solutions:
• Fully-automatic light management wherein the vehicle switches from DRLs to full headlamps with position lights at a certain ambient light threshold, or
• Have the tail lights lit with the DRLs, or
• Not illuminate the dashboard unless the headlights are on.
UN Regulation 48 (Rev 12) sections 6.2.7.6–6.2.7.7 already contains these provisions, but UN R48 is not in force in Canada. Are they reasonably adequate provisions? The first one is; the other two are not. Here's why: The always-lit dashboard is not likely to go away any time soon; today's instrument panels are far too integral to the vehicle's general controls (HVAC, sound system, etc) to render them invisible until the driver switches on the lights. Besides, this would aggravate a problem that's existed for decades: faced with a dark dashboard, thoughtless drivers slap at the headlight switch until the dashboard lights up. That's the front and rear position lights and sidemarkers, not the headlamps. Unfortunately, North American regulations are written such that the dashboard must illuminate when the position lights are lit, and the DRLs must not extinguish unless the headlamps are switched on. So the driver gropes at the headlight switch to light the dashboard, giving position lights plus DRLs. Better than total darkness to sides and rear, but still inadequate for the driver (and the pedestrians on the route) and dangerously glaring to other drivers.
Having the tail and sidemarker lights lit with the DRLs amounts to the same thing but without the driver's lackadaisical sweeps at the headlight switch: a perfect recipe for a sharp increase in cars driving round at night with tail and sidemarker lights (good) and DRLs (bad), and even stronger false signal to the driver that the car has "automatic lights".
One might reasonably object to the notion of figuratively wiping the driver's nose, assuming that anyone enough of an adult to earn a driving licence should be expected to operate a motorcar correctly. That's a fair point, but here's another: correct user interface design calls for making correct operation of the machine as intuitive as possible—the path of least resistance, requiring less thought and effort to get right than to get wrong.
So the right way to solve the problem without creating new ones is to remove the driver completely from the task. The car activates daytime lights in the daytime, nighttime lights after dark. The technology to do this is simple, cheap, and reliable; we've had it for many years. All that stands in the way is automaker desire to monetise every last little bit of the car that isn't strictly required by law. That is a simple fact of automakers' fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders, and that is why automatic lights are the only reasonable, rational, realistic solution.