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.
Let me ask you the same question for the last thirty years: why hasn’t United States obliged to harmonise its shitty FMVSS regulations with the international regulations? The only thing US obliged was allowing the H4 bulbs and headlamps with sharp horizontal cut-off.
One study in the early 2000s (I have been trying to locate this ever since, thanks to the “link rot“) showed that it costs about $2,000 per vehicle to be engineered specifically for the US market. No wonder Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors lost lot of interest in export drive after 2000s because the cost wasn’t justified for two versions and separate manufacturing lines for US and international markets.
FMVSS was mostly developed by lot of bureaucrats who had no fucking idea how the automobiles functioned, namely Joan Claybrook (many manufacturers gasped and moaned about her incompetency. She’s probably the forerunner of DEI). Think of sealed beam headlamp capsules until 1983. Think of 5-mph bumper standards that got more and more ridiculous each year until they were watered down in 1982. Think of the rear passenger seat belts that were lap belts until the 20/20 newscast in 1987 showed how dangerous the lap belts were. Think of killer airbags and moronic motorised shoulder seat belts as well as door-mounted seat belt anchors (both latter weren’t even safe at all). Think of the external rear-view mirror housings that are rigid and fixed to the door or frame (once they break or bend, they stay broken or bent).
We’re still waiting for the day when NHTSA finally mandates the taillamps with amber turn signal indicators. NHTSA indicated they’re effective in crash avoidance but sat on it ever since.
Way to put a stupid comment in the middle of your text to show your whole ass.
“Here’s some of my thoughts for a fruitful discussion. Side-note, I’m a sexist asshole”
One could pretty easily argue that a “DEI” candidate, such as you are suggesting, would be the first type of person to line up with folks to support and pass laws that are harmonized with the international regulations. I think most of this audience would agree with the major points of your argument, but fully disagree with your otherwise judgmental views.
Many good ideas start out as shitty ideas which then get changed and fixed into said good ideas. One needs to start somewhere, and sometimes that starting point isn’t always perfect or correct. The fundamental motivation of these ideas are to help make the world a safer place to be, contrary to your comment almost suggesting the opposite.
Barriers to entry.
You make it sound like incompetence. But it can far more easily be explained as malicious and intentional.
But really. US automakers have lobbied continously against regulations for actual performance safety and vehicle standards (ala IHS) as opposed to ‘feature’ based standards (X shall be no higher than Y, unless Z for ABC vehicle class) for decades.
It creates an intentional barrier to entry for everyone else and reduces the possibility that an outside carmaker can deliver that ‘next killer feature’ to take away their sales.
They also lobbied against actually relevant updates to emissions and efficiency testing procedures and almost exclusively run the insanely irrelevant and short (no, actually it isn’t expensive to run compared to literally anything in development, that is industry bullshit) simplified tests, and then apply their own discretionary offset on that simplified value to make it ‘look’ a bit less randomly high.
US automakers aren’t consistent, they’re in favor of regulatory harmonization in specific instances where it suits them and against it when it doesn’t
Same thing with tariffs, Ford would have loved to be able to import Transit Connect cargo vans from Turkey without having to go through the ruse of installing disposable rear seats, while GM would love to be able to source more Buicks from China. But, neither one wants the way cleared for inexpensive pickup trucks or crossovers from competing foreign manufacturers
And thus was born “Spikedlemon’s Razor,” a wholesale revision to the famed Hanlon’s Razor,” itself tracing back to witticisms nearly a century old.
Eric here complains when women and black people have jobs and also surely complains when they don’t have jobs.
What a maroon.
While I like the concept, I find the application distracting with blocks of light turning on and off so quickly. I’d like to see some ramping applied so the pixels dim softly in and out rather than flash.
Some Fords have the hardware too and just need the software change. I believe it’s legal in Canada so some vehicles made in the US for Canadian and US markets on the same line have the hardware, just not enabled in the US.
This can’t get enabled fast enough. I get blinded by oncoming Teslas in my old K2500, never mind in my car!
I agree, they are completely cool. My Mk 8 GTI unexpectantly has matrix headlights from the factory, all you need to do is activate them via coding. It took me awhile to trust the lights to dim just the relevant pixels for oncoming cars or following another car as the high beams are on all the time above 50ish.
How about making the thing affordable instead?
THIS! All of these fancy-dancy headlights are great – until you have to fix or repair them and your car is totaled because it needs $5K in headlights after a parking lot oops. I have a ’14 Mercedes with LED headlights, albeit not the all-singing and dancing ones, and the reality is that they really aren’t THAT much better than the e-code Euro-spec headlights that I put in my ’88 300TE back in the day with modestly upgraded halogen bulbs. But they still cost $1500 each if you have to replace them. The fancier version is more than twice that to replace. Well down the path of diminishing returns, IMHO.
Good optics and a great beam pattern go a long, long way. Along with not making the @#$%#$% things out of shitty plastic that inevitably develops cataracts… Which mine are starting to do after 10 years of Florida sun. On a car that cost $70K+ new.
My bosses Subaru headlight DRLs went out. Only way to fix them is to replace the whole unit at around $600.
thats crazy. with BMWs you can replace the LED module separate from the entire headlights.
Same with Mercedes. You can replace the LED main bulbs, but not the DRLs. they are LEDs so they are supposed to last “forever”. But forever isn’t as long as it used to be, rather like “lifetime fill” fluids.
It’s not that the LED headlights are better for you, it’s that they are better for the shareholders and the OEM just tells you they are better for you.
For what it’s worth, at least up to the BMW E90, one could purchase a new plastic lens for the $2K headlamp. I haven’t bought any year, but there is some confusion with pre vs post LCI headlamp shape and the availability of replacement lenses. It’s not for the faint of heart to actually effect the replacement.
I worked in total loss. Headlight prices were shocking to me. Audi headlights for $3800 per side? I saw some that were over $5k per side. Sprinkle in some radar and other grille/bumper sensors and a small front end bump becomes a total loss in an instant on a depreciated vehicle. Heck, I once did the front end components on a 2021 Range Rover and just the parts and labor were over $23,000. That should be a whole car, not just plastic and sensors and paint.
Even on such prosaic things as a Ford F-150, taillights with sensors can be $1500+ each, and issues with them cause havoc with the whole truck’s canbus system. It’s *insanity*.
Agreed. Gone are they days when you can add an aftermarket part to your ride without interfering with 50 other electrical sensors and systems. I don’t miss Altezza taillights, but you should be able to swap a plastic light housing out for low cost with a simple screwdriver.
I will always point out how stupid these headlights look, they look like Mr Krabs
I like these lights, far better than the BMW e60 5 series and all swoopy headlights that spawned from that terrible design.
I’m probably in the minority of people that likes happy looking vehicles.
Count me in as someone who appreciates happy looking vehicles in a sea of angry faced ones. My 17y/o son owns a NC Miata, so we get to see happy every day.
I don’t like swoopy E60 headlights either, but headlights can be not ‘surprised’ looking, and not mascara looking. There are plenty of cars with attractive headlights. The Rivian is not one of them.
Ain’t it great? So few mfrs can be unique like this anymore. I’m here for it.
Unique doesn’t have to be stupid looking.
Long overdue. Driving a low car at night these days, BRZ, feels an awful lot like glancing back and forth at the sun.
Don’t worry about the repair costs folks, these Rivian drivers are well insured. That way the cost is spread out to all of us! Great news!
All the “tech” was supposed to reduce accidents. So much for that.
Why is David writing about headlights and Torch writing about Jeeps?
Oh my, things have gone wrong!
I knew things would get weird post-election, but I didn’t expect a full polar shift.
Don’t worry. Your goth uncle remains a beacon of darkness, snark and style.
See, David, it’s not a “pixel” being “turned off”, it’s a beacon of darkness summoned forth by Uncle Adrian for the benefit of us all.
You were probably wearing khakis and golf shirts, singing along to Miley Cyrus before the Brexit vote.
It was my Halloween costume. I went as you.
I feel seen.
Bizarro world?
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/
Those headlights are tripping out. So dangerous.
Polestar2 has these as well
My sister leased one. I asked about the real-time dimming function when the article about them came out here and she said that the only way to enable (it back then) was an $800 coding tool—and it wasn’t worth that much to her for the 3 year lease.
I do understand—but wanted to see it IRL.
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.
Yep… the hardware is already there for the “matrix LED headlights” in my ’24 Model 3. Just waiting for NHTSA approval to activate them. I believe they’re already in use in Europe & Asia. Supposed to be allowed here in the US very soon.
Same for my ’24 Model Y. The turn adaptive headlights already make a difference. Can’t wait to see the true capabilities of the headlights. Living on the edge of suburbia, there are a lot of woodland critters.
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.”
Wow. It’s…actually kind of comforting (even if still annoying, I concede) that our standard is stricter than the international one?
Obviously it’s going to be a long time before these are anywhere near universal, but it’s nice to imagine people having “the best of both worlds”–i.e., super-bright headlights so they can actually see, but also not blinding other drivers.
why is it comforting? if the rest of the world is satisfied, what does the USA know that the other people don’t? the answer is nothing. there is a universal standard, just not good enough for USA. stupid.
I mean, “faster than humans could switch regular high beams” is a tall order! If I’m going up a hill with my high beams on and someone comes over the top in the oncoming lane, the time between my eyes recognizing the situation and my hand flicking my high beams off is certainly longer than I’d like, and it’d be nice for it to be a lot faster for both drivers’ sakes.
Since this is a regulation that will affect car design for decades to come, I think it’s important to land it the first time (like we did, for example, with the CHMSL).
Yet, the US permits auto-highbeams.
My experience has been that auto-highbeams switch significantly slower than I would do so on my own.
And US automakers have been some of the hardest lobbies to keep adaptive headlights (and amber rear signals) off the road.
Keeping the amber rear turn signals unmandated is inexcusable. Ford has amber rear turn signals on some pickups, but not the #1 selling F-150. Chevy and Dodge pickups also have amber rear turn signals.
European cars that have amber rear turn signals in their native land, are naturalized in the US with all red rear taillights. Why!? I don’t believe that US buyers would reject cars w/ amber rear turn signals.
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.
Sam, I think the frustrating thing is that my model does have the exact same matrix-LED hardware as the Euro models. I know that may not be the case across the board for all manufacturers, but I do know that any BMW model with the “active matrix” LED option does have the hardware to support anti-dazzle, its just been neutered on the software end for US regulations. I can confirm that after the bimmer-tech.net guys recoded my software, I noticed the difference right away – its brilliant.
I’m a Bimmercode man, but I haven’t figured out how to anti-dazzle.
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.
Oh, I’ve done my fair share of coding via Bimmercode, but I can’t figure out the lights, sadly.
For a moment I thought you didn’t knew about it!, I learned how to weld a chassis from you (although I never needed)…
You live a softer life in Cali, needs to polish the software side of DIY.
You need to check if your car has the hardware. Maybe a US market was not equiped with it for that model year (or worse, model month). Months can make a huge difference for BMWs in terms of what your car has or not.
Wish I knew it and would have saved me quite a bit of time building a conversion wire harness for a combox if my car was 6 months older.
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.
What’s worse is that I lost my wedding ring. And the wedding is in three weeks!
Oh no! Elise is a true angel… lol…
You have no idea.
But her real name is Esprit.
Pro tip: if you deal with any kind of hard work or deal with oily things, you need two rings: the original one you keep safe at home, the cheap one you use on a daily basis. Also, don’t choose a fancy one for you, basic gold ring and you are good to go.
Been there, done there…the day after the wedding! I’m on my 4th ring, first wife.
My fiancee and I have matching rings and I deeeeefinitely lost mine three months ago. Was digging through a dresser drawer two days ago for a belt and found it. Not sure how it got there.
I suspect the details vary by model, but below are the instructions I use for my 2023 M3. I hear if you have Esys there are a couple additional settings that result in a tighter beam and less aggressive dimming, but I haven’t tested that.
Under the BDC module in “expert,” there are 4 groups called LaMaster 1 through 4. Items to change are listed below. New values are after the space on each line.
LaMaster 1:
C_BLC_PRE_ENA | 1
LUT_FLC_FORWARDLIGHTING_Y | AFS
LaMaster 2:
C_AFS_ECO_LEVEL_3_ENA | 01
C_AFS_ENA | 01
LaMaster 3:
LUT_AFS_CODRV_HOR | standard/init
LUT_AFS_DRV_HOR | F040_G005_AHL…
C_CLC_CURV_V2 | 23
C_CLC_CURV_V3 | 28
C_CLC_EXT_ENA | 01
C_HBA_DIM_ENA | 01
C_HBA_GFHBA_ENA_V_HI | 3C
C_HBA_GFHB_ENA | 01
Thank you!
I enabled all the Euro headlight stuff on my M235i with ProTools and my phone. And on my VW GTI. Cost $150 or so for the BT adapter, physical cable, and the software. Pretty mandatory if you are going to DIY a BMW. There is also the hacked factory software you can get for free, but ProTools is a lot easier to use. Not LED on that 2016 and 2017, but it both had the all-singing and dancing HID lights and could do the swivel them around the car in front, dim one and point the other off to the right, that sort of thing, and adjust the beam aim on the fly based on speed.
Useful, but IMHO not really worth the absolutely insane cost of the headlights. LED should be cheaper because they don’t need to be mechanically steered, but you can bet your ass that won’t translate into replacement parts being any cheaper if you break one.
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.
Seems like he is driving and filming with a camera at the same time… Not very responsible.
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.