As big proponents of adaptive headlights — lights that actively dim small sections of the high-beam to provide both maximum illumination without blinding drivers and pedestrians — we were excited to learn that passage of last year's infrastructure bill would require the lights to be made legal for the U.S. With passage of the bill, NHTSA was given two years to finish making rules for the lights, but the organization announced this week that it's already done.
Yes, you read that right, a government agency finished a task well ahead of schedule. And that's exciting, because that means automakers start working on adaptive headlights for the United States. Automakers also will likely appreciate the new rules. A representative from Audi provided the following statement: "As a leader in lighting technology, Audi of America is pleased about the amendment that opens our path toward bringing adaptive driving beam headlights to U.S. customers. We’re actively evaluating the ruling on FMVSS 108 to determine next steps."
Toyota is another automaker that has been pushing for adaptive lighting rules. It submitted a petition way back in 2013 to get rules in place. NHTSA did say it would start looking into the lights as of 2018.
As for how soon we'll see production cars with adaptive headlights, it will definitely be sooner than if NHTSA had waffled for another year and a half. But it's hard to say how soon beyond that. The rules were only published yesterday, so automakers will be looking through to see what will be necessary to meet them. As the Audi representative noted, there are a number of standards, with Europe using fairly broad rules, whereas Canada has adopted a modified version of the SAE's standards for lighting, SAE J3069, which is more specific than Europe's regulations. He noted that the U.S. rules appear to be based on the SAE/Canadian rules, though with some further changes. Since there are automakers offering cars with adaptive lights now in Canada, and others are developing them, we suspect they could fairly quickly adapt those units to U.S. rules, assuming that none of the differences are too drastic. So hopefully we won't have to wait long for models with this technology.
Something that we're interested in is whether some automakers could offer updates to existing matrix-style LED headlights. Although they weren't given the software to be adaptive, automakers such as Audi did sell matrix LED headlights in the U.S. with the same hardware as overseas models. Audi's representative couldn't confirm whether or not that would be something the company would offer, though.
And there could be a number of complicating factors such as whether unique software would need to be produced for the U.S.-market headlights. If that's the case, would the company have to charge people for the upgrade, and would owners be interested in paying for it?
Regardless, we feel comfortable in saying that we'll definitely see adaptive headlights on new cars in the near future, and there's at least a chance some older cars could be updated to have the functionality, too. And that's a huge boon for drivers and pedestrians alike.
Update (Feb. 16, 2022 12:08 p.m.): Additional information about lighting regulations and how soon adaptive lights may be available has been added.
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