diff --git a/docs/TODO_phase3.md b/docs/TODO_phase3.md
index c6238fd0f0..d3ee2908c5 100644
--- a/docs/TODO_phase3.md
+++ b/docs/TODO_phase3.md
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 - better visualization
 	- draw moving / blocked colors (gradually more red as they wait longer)
 	- draw stop buffer in front/behind of cars
-	- draw cars in slightly different colors, to distinguish them better
 
 - start implementing a second AORTAish driving model
 	- then make cars park/unpark at the correct position
diff --git a/editor/src/ui.rs b/editor/src/ui.rs
index e8e79fb663..0bdaaab5fd 100644
--- a/editor/src/ui.rs
+++ b/editor/src/ui.rs
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ use abstutil;
 use colors::{ColorScheme, Colors};
 use control::ControlMap;
 use control::{ModifiedStopSign, ModifiedTrafficSignal};
+use ezgui;
 use ezgui::canvas::Canvas;
 use ezgui::input::UserInput;
-use ezgui::GfxCtx;
-use ezgui::ToggleableLayer;
+use ezgui::{GfxCtx, ToggleableLayer};
 use graphics::types::Color;
 use gui;
 use map_model;
@@ -327,9 +327,9 @@ impl UI {
             return c;
         }
         match self.sim_ctrl.sim.get_car_state(id) {
-            CarState::Moving => self.cs.get(Colors::MovingCar),
-            CarState::Stuck => self.cs.get(Colors::StuckCar),
-            CarState::Parked => self.cs.get(Colors::ParkedCar),
+            CarState::Moving => ezgui::shift_color(self.cs.get(Colors::MovingCar), id.0),
+            CarState::Stuck => ezgui::shift_color(self.cs.get(Colors::StuckCar), id.0),
+            CarState::Parked => ezgui::shift_color(self.cs.get(Colors::ParkedCar), id.0),
         }
     }
 
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ impl UI {
         if let Some(c) = self.current_selection_state.color_p(id, &self.cs) {
             return c;
         }
-        self.cs.get(Colors::Pedestrian)
+        ezgui::shift_color(self.cs.get(Colors::Pedestrian), id.0)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/ezgui/Cargo.toml b/ezgui/Cargo.toml
index d9d1ad4073..1e6b0d9a6d 100644
--- a/ezgui/Cargo.toml
+++ b/ezgui/Cargo.toml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ authors = ["Dustin Carlino <dabreegster@gmail.com>"]
 
 [dependencies]
 aabb-quadtree = "0.1.0"
+palette = "0.4"
 piston = "*"
 piston2d-graphics = "*"
 piston2d-opengl_graphics = "*"
diff --git a/ezgui/src/lib.rs b/ezgui/src/lib.rs
index 0cb14ed56e..73862d0fa6 100644
--- a/ezgui/src/lib.rs
+++ b/ezgui/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 extern crate aabb_quadtree;
 extern crate graphics;
 extern crate opengl_graphics;
+extern crate palette;
 extern crate piston;
 
 pub mod canvas;
@@ -135,3 +136,23 @@ impl ToggleableLayer {
         self.enabled = false;
     }
 }
+
+// Deterministically shift a color's brightness based on an ID.
+pub fn shift_color(c: Color, id: usize) -> Color {
+    use palette::Shade;
+
+    // TODO this needs tuning. too easy to get too light/dark, but also too easy to have too few
+    // variants. should maybe just manually come up with a list of 100 colors, hardcode in, modulo.
+    let variants = 10;
+    let half_variants = variants / 2;
+    let modulo = id % variants;
+    let scale = 1.0 / (variants as f32);
+
+    let color = palette::Srgb::new(c[0], c[1], c[2]).into_linear();
+    let new_color = if modulo < half_variants {
+        color.lighten(scale * (modulo as f32))
+    } else {
+        color.darken(scale * ((modulo - half_variants) as f32))
+    };
+    [new_color.red, new_color.green, new_color.blue, 1.0]
+}