The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced the finalization of rules that enable automakers to equip new vehicles with Adaptive Beam Headlights.
The new rule satisfies a requirement put in place with the recent infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden last year. The change is over a year and half ahead of schedule.
Adaptive Beam Headlights are designed to enhance on-road safety by illuminating potential hazards without blinding other motorists. The technology leverages visual cameras, radar, or a combination thereof to automatically adjust the direction of the headlight beams, thus directing light away from oncoming traffic while also illuminating pedestrians, animals, or objects on the side of the road that may otherwise not be seen.
Adaptive Headlight Beams differ from adaptive headlamps, the latter of which feature a lighting element mounted on a mechanical swivel, thus enabling the lights to move with the contour of the road and provide greater lighting coverage. By contrast, adaptive headlamps don’t change the way in which low beams and high beams function, and thus the tech is already permitted under the current Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.
At present, General Motors already offers Adaptive Beam Headlights technology on range-topping trims of the Cadillac XT6 luxury crossover. However, the full adaptive beam function is currently deactivated for units sold in North America, per previous rules that stipulate a headlight system must feature separate high-beam and low-beam settings.
Now, however, the new NHTSA rule amends Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108, “Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment.”
“NHTSA prioritizes the safety of everyone on our nation’s roads, whether they are inside or outside a vehicle. New technologies can help advance that mission,” said the NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator Dr. Steven Cliff.
With the announcement of the rule change, it’s possible that we may see Adaptive Beam Headlights technology on new vehicles sold in the U.S. very soon.
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Comments
I hope they are made better than the regular head lamps that leak or sand blast easily. These will not be a cheap replacement item.
I just worry will they keep working as of now they can’t even seal the units right.
You bet, and what will it cost to repair when it breaks?
I know when I was selling at the Audi dealer near me that when the 2019 A8 came out it had that ability built in but was not activated due to this rule. The parts guy priced out a replacement and it was around $4300 for just one side. Now add in labor costs for install and most likely an alignment like all of the other driver’s assistance features need and you’re looking at $5000.
lol you say that as if current headlights don’t cost $1000 to replace. I have no hope.
Lol you say that like it won’t be 4 times worse.
Lol that man is trying to compare $1k to $4k+ don’t waste your time with him C8.R
its little things like this that can make or break a consumer reports top safety pick !
The NHTSA takes way to damn long to approve these things. Adaptive and Laser headlamps have been in other countries for years.
Agreed, this announcement is 4 years late at least. US/NHTSA should be leading instead of lagging on advancing things like this. My only hope would be older XT6’s and other cars that have this can enable the feature with a firmware update.
Wow!
To the thumbs down, I guess I can’t get as excited about a headlight article!
Wow!
They will adapt 1/2 second after blinding the oncoming driver, like today’s adaptive high beams.
Probably, and then I’d expect them to continue blinding you, but slightly less.
I wonder what other mfgs. are now shipping adaptive beam hardware with their 2022-3 releases (i. e. Ioniq 5 & EV6)?
My 2021 Audi e-tron has them but they are currently disabled. Hopefully that will change soon.
Anyone coming towards me that has those bright led lights on I just turn my brights on them in return.
And we’ll show you what our real brights really are. I get flashed all the time because I have my fog lights and headlights on auto. People think my low beams are bright. And I grin and say ‘they have no idea’ 😂
2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range Dual Motor
You can try but I’ll swerve in your lane and run you off the road. You don’t wanna play road games with me trust me
Obviously you cannot be dtrusted. I am glad that I am not your life insurance agent..
What does dtrusted mean? Obviously you are not a life insurance agent since you can’t even spell correctly.
Hopefully the camera mirrors are next.
They will adapt to your wallet and suck $4300 out of it.
I remember that back in the day it was practically impossible to modify, add or remove any factory lights on an auto. This makes me wonder how big a bribe was paid to the NHTSA to allow plastic headlights that degrade from road grit blasting them all the while you drive making them grossly inadequate. ‘FOLLOW THE MONEY’.
Front and rear ends are getting packed with sensors, cameras and radar devices. So now let’s throw technology into the head lights. One reason the insurance rates are going up. This stuff is not cheap even with a small collisions.
The real biggie: will the new headlights also be self-leveling? Will the photometrics of the optics finally be tightened down at least a bit to prevent this blinding that people – justifiably – complain about?