mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

Adaptive Headlight Beams To Be Made Legal In The U.S.

Adaptive headlight beams will be legal for use on public roadways in the United States in the near future thanks to a new amendment made to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.

Demonstration of Audi adaptive headlight beam technology

The amendment, which was included in the infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden earlier this month, will “allow for the use on vehicles of adaptive driving beam headlamp systems.” These systems are currently illegal in the U.S., as a headlight system has to feature separate, distinctly different high beam and low beam settings.

Adaptive headlight beams, for those who may be unaware, enable the beam produced by a vehicle’s headlights to be automatically adjusted based on the driving situation and road conditions. This technology typically uses a camera, radar sensor or a combination of both to self-adjust the headlight beam, directing it away from oncoming traffic to avoid blinding other road users. With this technology, the vehicle’s high beams can remain on almost permanently, with the dynamic beam cutting out a perfect sort of “hole” for oncoming traffic so the beam does affect other drivers’ vision.

General Motors already offers this technology on range-topping variants of the Cadillac XT6 crossover, but the adaptive beam function is currently disabled on all units sold in North America.

There are currently no GM vehicles that feature adaptive headlight beams

Adaptive headlight beams are not to be confused with adaptive headlamps, which feature a regular halogen or LED light on a mechanical swivel, allowing them to move with the contour of the road and provide superior headlight coverage. This technology does not change the way the headlight performs with regard to a low/high beam and was thus already permitted under the existing Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.

The infrastructure bill changes the wording of the relevant Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (section 108) to “allow for the use on vehicles of adaptive driving beam headlamp systems.” The bill allows two years for this change to be implemented, so it’s likely that we’ll see vehicles for sale in the U.S. with adaptive headlight beams before 2024.

Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM-related lighting news, GM-related politics news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.

Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Nice about time for the USA to catch up.

    Reply
  2. I work nights and these halogen lights are crazy bright. Anytime someone comes towards me with these blinding lights I always turn my brights on at them.

    Reply
    1. And what does that do for you Karen? They don’t have their brights on….

      Reply
      1. I already explained it below. How about reading the comments next time before asking something that has been answered.

        Reply
  3. ken – those ” crazy” btight lights lights we see on cars now are not halogen – that is old tech – -the bright lights used on cars now are LED & they are AWESOME! – – you flashing your brights at oncoming drivers wont help a thing — as the owner of a 2019 Jeep Cherokee, i have no control over how bright the LED light are, that’s just how good they are. when you buy a newer car w/ the LED headlights, you will appreciate how great they work at lighting up a dark road, espcially if you are over 50 yrs old & night time vision isn’t what it used to be.

    Reply
    1. It doesn’t have to help a thing, I never thought it would it simply shows them what I’m seeing when they are coming towards me.

      Reply
      1. Drivers in my area are too stupid to turn the headlights on. DRL’s are so bright they think it’s on 🤷🏽‍♂️

        Reply
        1. Those are typically Japanese and Korean cars. They put in DRLs and constantly illuminated instrument clusters, but no auto headlights until recently. GM and Ford have had auto lights since the 80’s.

          Reply
    2. Andy, But you could have the headlight aiming on your Jeep checked. A night drive in any community where they are popular, in any lower vehicle, should convince you that they are a hazard to other drivers.

      Reply
  4. The greatest issue no matter the type of light is alignment.

    So many Wranglers and trucks are lifted and or leveled and not adjusted properly. They can be very annoying. For some of the older people blinding.

    Also some vehicles are just brighter than others. My last SUV has HID and I got flashed by other cars often but the new one has LED and they are dimmer and no one flashes now.

    Another issue is that people put cheap LED bulbs in that are one sided or can not be indexed in housings never intended for LED. The combo just does not always work well.

    This new system should help but sit down before you get the price to replace a unit.

    Reply
    1. It’s not just the alignment. It’s also the photometrics of the individual headlights themselves. The American standards for headlights photo metrics have been so sloppy for so many years that you can have anywhere from good headlights to atrocious headlights and still passed the standards.

      Reply
  5. And in 10 years GM might offer them as an option.

    Reply
    1. And, in the meantime you can stop snivelling and buy something else.

      Reply
  6. Amazing. And we can build space ships that return to earth and land themselves back on the pad. Yet automakers still can’t/won’t develop technology that prevents driving when impaired or when using a cell phone. Governments should mandate it. No excuses.

    Reply
  7. When will the height of the headlight from the ground be regulated so that drivers of sedans, like me won’t be blinded by every led equipped truck and suv that has their headlights at my eye level. Also, morons who drive with the fogs on, totally ignorant of the light pattern. Yeah, I’m older…and wiser.

    Reply
  8. I had a 2015 Sierra with LED headlights. They were terrible, dim. Over using the high beams didn’t help that much. Only seemed to reposition the dim beam farther down the road. As a result, I did not drive at night. Looked at aftermarket at $100 each. Put up with it for 5 years as I could easily adjust my driving to daytime only. Gave the truck to my son and the first thing he asked was, “What’s wrong with the headlamps?” He’s learned to keep the headlamp lenses sparkling clean. You sort-of get used to it and slow down at night so you don’t overdrive the headlamps. I thought there might be a class action lawsuit but never learned of one. My 2020 Sierra has an “automatic” feature that will dim the brights sensing on-coming traffic. I tried it but I always got “flipped off” by oncoming traffic. The brights didn’t dim fast enough for me for oncoming traffic. Another “useless” premium feature…IMHO. Not sure I would like “Adaptive” headlamps. Just because it can be done doesn’t mean it should be done. When I want it bright I want it bright and would rather control it. It’s a matter of what my eyeballs need not what, where, when the sun is setting. How many microchips could be saved without such premium features that end up turned off?? AKA, auto start/stop. But that’s another story.

    Reply
    1. You hit the nail on the head with that ! My auto brights are horrible I shut it off. I’m an old school believer that if you needed the brights use them but dont be blinding oncoming drivers half a mile up the road. Terrible feature.. same as the auto start I’m glad I can shut it off.

      Reply
  9. Have a 2016 GMC Acadia with very poor head lights. You should not have to change your factory head lights to be able to see at night.

    Reply
  10. Also have a 2017 Acadia, haven’t noticed a dim head light problem, certainly not like the 2015 Sierra. Maybe GM “fixed” headlights in 2017? Sometimes GM will issue a Service bulletin along the lines of, “If the owner complains about….then do this”. But they don’t broadcast the fix and only fix if you complain. Don’t know if this is the case for you, but I’d advise you complain and ask your dealer to do a search for a fix. Or do your own search. Good luck!

    Reply
  11. Besides the problem with lights not being aimed right is the people who run with brights on all the time. I really think many people don’t understand if you see a blue light on your dash your brights are on. I think to many people are not getting taught correctly when they go through drivers education.

    Reply
  12. What are you doing driving at night anyway?

    Reply
    1. Some people have jobs that require them to work at night. Depending on where you live once day lights saving time ends night begins at 4:30pm for some people. Kinda a goofy thing to ask what are you doing driving at night anyways. Use your brain next time to answer that question.

      Reply
  13. If I recall correctly and I’ll show my age here, I think the dash light indicating your brights were on was red in color. Now It’s blue. Red once upon a time, indicated danger, unsafe condition, take note and do something about it. Blue is “cool” nothing to worry about, motor on…
    As far as drivers education is concerned, what drivers education??? It doesn’t exactly exist anymore. It’s gone from public schools where you might have had an actual bonafide teacher.

    Reply
    1. How are high beams an unsafe condition? Blue is correct, blue means a non-normal setting that you need to be aware of but does not necessarily require action. It has been this way for decades, and is used to mean the exact same thing on airplanes.

      Reply
  14. Out on our country 2 lane roads it’s the late model F150s with the most annoying LED lights, while great for the driver they are horrid for drivers on the opposite side of the road. Ford has already requested a recall for the headlight programming. When you see drivers swerving and Flashing their highbeams because of those oncoming lights you know even if they pass a FMVSS spec they are too bright.

    Reply
  15. 52 inch led light bar turned on for the idiots with bright head lights will go to low beam

    Reply
    1. Yeah just blind the guy coming towards you because he’s blinding you.Should make for a great head on collision blinding each other.

      Reply
  16. We don’t need these extra-bright LED headlights. Do you know how many accidents are being caused by these extra bright headlights? We need to set a standard of the intensity levels on these new LED bright headlights. Then we can still have a regular LED headlight and a bright LED Headlight instead of the old incandescent lamps. But OSHA should standardize the intensity levels first for eye safety usage. Evidently, this was never done. That is why people are having more accidents because of this. There is another problem with those blinding red tail lights too. This also has to be addressed in the same way. This is why we have standards so it helps everybody who drives.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel