CNN
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Imagine what it would be like to drive with your high beams on all the time at night, shining a bright light on the road ahead without dazzling other drivers.
In Europe and Asia, many cars offer adaptive driving beam headlights that accomplish this. ADB is a lighting technology that has been used for many years in other parts of the world, such as Europe, China, and Canada, but not in the United States.
You can actually shape the light from your headlights instead of scattering them all over the road. If there is an oncoming vehicle or a vehicle ahead of you in the same lane, the lights will move precisely away from that vehicle. The rest of the road is still bathed in bright light, with only a few dim lights spread around other vehicles. This allows you to clearly see deer, pedestrians, and cyclists on the side of the road, while also allowing you to see other drivers sharing the road.
In America, the closest thing to this right now is automatic high beams. This is a feature found in many new cars that automatically turns off your high beams if another vehicle is detected in front of you. But that still means driving most of the time, if not most of the time, with only low-beam headlights that don't reach very far. It could be dangerous.
U.S. auto safety regulations enacted in 2022 were supposed to finally allow ADB headlights, which the auto industry and safety groups have long requested. But new rules are making it harder for automakers to add this feature, according to automakers and safety advocates. This means it will probably be several years before ADB headlights are widely available in the United States.
ADB-compatible headlights are already on sale in some luxury cars in the United States. You just don't have the software to do it as designed. Some American Mercedes drivers enjoy the dazzling light display when starting and stopping their cars at night. Moving streaks of light sweep across the sidewalk and wall in front of the car like a glittering snowstorm. However, while driving, the lights function like standard high-beam and low-beam headlights. These adaptive features do not yet meet US regulations and are therefore not enabled here.
Some ADB headlights work like digital projectors, using more than a million LED pixels to project a pattern of light onto the road. Even in the US, some Mercedes cars can project symbols such as arrows and lines onto the road to guide drivers. Cheaper systems from Europe and Asia use thousands or fewer emitters, reflectors, or shutter systems to create an adaptive beam.
Until two years ago, U.S. vehicle safety regulations were set for traditional headlights and did not allow adaptive headlight technology at all. Wrapping the beam around other vehicles was not covered by the regulations, so this technology was not allowed here by default.
Things changed in early 2022, when after a decade of effort, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized regulations for adaptive beam headlights. But automakers still can't offer it in the U.S. because U.S. regulations are so different from those in other countries and the requirements are so difficult to meet. Auto industry officials say it will be years before they can offer new, redesigned ADB headlights that meet the standards.
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This drone aerial photo shows a car driving on a road at night with its headlights shadowing vehicles on the road.
Many industry participants did not wish to speak on the record about these regulatory issues, instead pointing CNN to technical comments that automotive lighting experts sent to NHTSA as part of the rulemaking process.
Some automakers and safety groups, including Ford, Volkswagen, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, are asking NHTSA to reconsider regulations to make these headlights easier and less costly to offer in the U.S. .
“We would like to see regulations and testing reconsidered to accommodate what has already been proven around the world, including in Canada. [the Society of Automotive Engineers]''VW's luxury brand Audi said in a statement provided to CNN. “On America's roads today, many of our vehicles are equipped with Matrix Design or Digital Matrix Design lighting, which increases visibility, reduces glare, and makes roads safer for everyone. It means becoming.”
Safety regulations usually differ somewhat between different global markets. But adaptive beam headlights have been used in other countries for more than a decade, according to various industry sources, so automakers hoped regulations would allow them to be introduced here without requiring major equipment changes. That's what it means.
“We were hoping it would have been a software change, so we could have brought that technology to market faster,” said General Motors Exterior Lighting Technology Fellow and Automobile Association member. said Michael Larsen. Lighting Board of Engineers. “But when everyone started getting serious about this complex regulation, we couldn't get there from here.”
NHTSA regulations require ADB headlights to react very quickly after detecting another vehicle within the light's range, which is much faster than other EU and Canadian standards. It's fast. It's also much faster than a human turning off regular high-beam headlights. It also determines a very thin line between light and dark areas.
Ultimately, NHTSA regulations will require an entirely new headlamp design for the U.S., Larsen said. This means that his ADB function, which is already built into the headlights in Audi and Mercedes cars in the US, for example, will probably never be turned on.
NHTSA regulations prioritize reducing the potential for glare to other drivers. Glare has been a particular concern for years as newer vehicles have brighter headlights, which can sometimes cause discomfort or even temporarily blind other drivers. But many industry participants say the regulation overemphasizes that concern and holds adaptive beam headlights to an even higher standard than regular headlights when it comes to reducing glare.
“The focus should be on what we can do to increase visibility,” said Matt Brumbello, senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “We know that poor visibility causes crashes, and what ADB does is help you see the light and maximize visibility while preventing glare.”
Brumbello said U.S. regulations also limit the amount of light headlights emit, but also don't allow them to reduce their illumination as much as possible in other situations.
“[We could] It reduces glare compared to high beams and is even lower than current low beams,” he said. “But you can get more light elsewhere.”
Glare is clearly a concern, as NHTSA declines to comment on the regulations beyond what is written in the final regulations themselves. NHTSA also says other standards developed by the industry, such as the SAE standard, are not sufficient to prevent systems from shining too much light into the eyes of other drivers.
ADBs will eventually be on American roads, but assuming there are no changes to regulations, it will take some time. Someday, Americans will be able to use high-tech headlights that can do more than put on a light show.
