I drove the Rivian R1S a few weeks ago from LA to Las Vegas, and though I’ll write a more complete review later, today I need to talk about its “Adaptive Drive Beam,” which has only recently become legal in the U.S. Because it is truly mind-blowing.
The car I drove was a 2025 Rivian R1S, meaning it’s the “Gen II” of Rivian’s SUV. It launched with some seriously impressive headlights, but their functions were initially limited, as Rivian notes:
New headlights and taillights are designed with the safety of everyone on the road in mind. These headlights feature Adaptive Drive Beam technology which will be enabled later this year, helping drivers stay more aware while driving on dark roads by adapting dynamically to oncoming traffic.
These types of headlights, offered by other manufacturers like BMW and Jaguar but really popularized by Audi as the company’s “Matrix-design LED headlights,” work by cutting power to certain LED elements based on what lies ahead. As an oncoming driver approaches, instead of just shutting off the high beams, this Matrix technology just removes “pixels” of light so as not to blind the oncoming driver, thus allowing for excellent visibility ahead. Audi has a great explanation here:
That video above, by the way, is eight years old, and in it, Audi says it hopes to someday bring this tech to the U.S. Now it’s 2024, and Audi still doesn’t have this technology on U.S. roads. Motor1 has a good breakdown of why that is in its July, 2023 article “Here’s Why The Audi Q6 E-Tron’s Active Headlights Won’t Be Offered In The US.” From that piece:
“The US had a specific regulation that only allowed for a high or a low beam, but nothing in between,” Audi said in a statement. “A new regulation was passed that allowed for adaptive beam lighting. However, the ruling also established differing requirements in terms of testing and certification than the globally accepted and SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) informed solution. This is the solution we have offered outside of the US since 2012.”
So even though, since early 2022, automakers could have an “adaptive driving beam,” it looks like the technology out there doesn’t mean the newly revised FMVSS 108 headlight requirements. Hence the delay. I, frustratingly, own a BMW with Adaptive LED headlights that have had to be disabled for the U.S. market. Audi is planning to bring its tech here soon, and Rivian, somehow, managed to get it to market first, even ahead of the Ingolstadt-based automaker. Check it out:
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The headlights are wild. They don’t just remove “pixels” to avoid blinding oncoming drivers, they appear to be constantly adjusting to signage and even terrain. I’m not entirely sure what the algorithm involves (i.e. what triggers headlight adjustments other than oncoming traffic/vehicle speed/steering angle), but I can tell you: The lights do a lot of adjusting, pretty much constantly.
During my Vegas trip, I drove from flat terrain through a canyon with steep grades on each side, and the headlight shape changed markedly as I entered that gorge. It’s a little more animated than some folks might want, but I think it’s fun, and in the end, forward visibility is excellent.
here is a cool video showing the pixel lights in a foggy drive where you can easily see the beam adjusting. in this case it’s a Volvo C40 and the red street lights are causing an issue with the headlights.
https://www.reddit.com/r/volvoc40/comments/1g7uxwr/red_street_lights_and_pixel_led_headlights/
Polestar2 has these as well
Tesla is supposed to enable this for matrix headlight vehicles any update now. The light shows demonstrate the hardware is capable. Now if only they can enable it for road use.
I paid about $400 to have this feature unlocked on my US 24’ Golf R, and it was worth every penny. It’s one of my favorite features. If you’ve got a newer VW product I recommend seeing if enabling it via software is an option for you. ACM Technik is the company I used. They’re very easy to work with.
David, my BMW also has active matrix LEDs and its incredibly frustrating that the US software programming had disabled the feature because or archaic US regulations.
I had the bimmer-tech team reflash the headlight software on my BMW for approximately $150 USD and it now works as advertised on the road. I personally consider it money well spent.
Lot of folks talking about how expensive the headlights would be to replace, and that’s probably true, but the thing is they are already installed on most luxury European cars (have been for a few years now) with the technology disabled. So if you have a recent vintage Bimmer, or Merc, or whatnot you have already the expensive headlights but can’t actually utilize them. Worst of both worlds.
I remember doing a deep dive into this a few months ago.
I was wondering why the US car ranges don’t have adaptive headlights. It was a rabbit hole with an unexpected answer.
They are *legal to have* in the US. The rules were changed to allow them in 2022.
But the rules were written to prevent any adaptive lighting in use to actually be used.
“NHTSA’s rules require adaptive headlights to respond extremely fast after detecting another vehicle. This is not only much faster than other standards in use in Europe and Canada but also quicker than humans could switch regular high beams. They also dictate extremely narrow lines between bright and dark regions of the light beam, which is difficult to achieve in practice. This prevents current matrix LED headlamps from ever being switched on in the US. Instead, carmakers will be forced to redesign their adaptive headlights according to US regulations.”
I used BimmerCode to turn on the adaptive headlight tech in my BMW. It is very cool. And especially handy these days when the sun sets before 5pm. Only downside is it has to be re-enabled each time the car gets an OTA update.
Oh really?! Do teach me your wisdom!
https://bimmercode.app/
I’m not sure which model BMW you have, but I have BimmerCode for my G01 X3M and while I can code so many great things, the anti-dazzle headlights are not one of the things that are available for my model. I went through a ton of threads 6 months ago and only ended up with people who were hitting dead ends or false-positive results for the G01 series.
BimmerCode is still addictive and 100% worth it though! I had to go to bimmer-tech.net to do the coding on their side for the anti-dazzle matrix LEDs specifically.
I don’t have a BMW, I just read about the app awhile back. I wish Kia had stuff like this other than a USB/Screwdriver
The reason for this is that for some models (usually those which sell large volumes in the US) they actually manufacture and ship a physically different (read: simpler) headlight for the US market. Even if you do figure out how to enable them in software, it’ll never work because they also need different hardware.
If I remember correctly, all of the US-built SUVs are like this.
I suppose you could do some coding and swap in Euro headlights, but that wouldn’t be legal.
How do you own a BMW and don’t know about the wonderful world of coding and retrofitting? A regular person ok, but not DT.
Spend some time on the many BMW forums around internet. Do that before wedding. You will get into the rabbit hole rather quickly.
Fast forward a couple of month’s to David’s Article:
“Some genius told me how to enable the adaptive headlights on my holy grail BMW i3S and I almost forgot about my $1000 credit that I forgot to apply for”
It’s not the $1000 credit he forgot, it’s that he was so dazzled (engrailified?) that he forgot to go to the wedding.
I welcome this type of technology, especially over useless distracting tech like “infotainment”. I recall how amazed I was when I purchased a 2003 Audi S4 with halogen self-leveling headlights that used sensors and motors to keep a horizon line level as the vehicle went up and down. This is next level, no pun intended.
it looks like it would be super distracting
Next article “Why Are So Many Cars Being Totaled By Insurance Companies?”
Can you get us footage of what it looks like for oncoming traffic? A side-by-side demo would be neat to see.
Love how Polestar 2 owners in the US have already been activating their dormant Pixel lighting technology with computer software for a while now. The footage of these lights in action is pretty damn cool.
Orbit makes it easy.
Good god, those suckers must cost more than at least 2 out of the 4 cars in my household to replace, should you be so unlucky as to crack a plastic lens
While I applaud anything that makes nightbdriving easier and safer, I am also cognizant that if you do have headlight damage, or you have one stop working, the replacement will cost eleventy bajillion dollars.