If you stick with stereotypes, America is the land of the free, and Europe is where excessive regulation stifles innovation. But with one key bit of automotive safety tech, the inverse was true.
Adaptive headlights — essentially, full-time high beams that use cameras to dim when encountering traffic — have been used in Europe and Japan for decades. Despite pleading from automakers, however, those adaptive headlights have not been allowed in America. The reason stemmed from an NHTSA rule dating back to 1967, which said American cars had to have distinct high and low beam headlights.
Luckily, we’re finally getting with the times. The Biden administration’s recent infrastructure bill has mandated that the NHTSA approve adaptive headlights within two years. And the NHTSA has just approved them.
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Why are adaptive headlights important? Driving at night is particularly dangerous. We do about 25% of our driving at night, but that period results in 50% of traffic fatalities. Much of that is drinking or being tired. But a significant percentage of accidents — especially collisions with pedestrians, animals and cyclists — can be attributed to bad visibility.
High beams provide much better visibility than what we consider the default low beams. (Low beams only provide enough illumuniation to drive at roughly 40 mph or less, assuming you want to be able to stop in time if something appears at the end of your beam.) But Americans seldom use their high beams, because they blind other drivers. And even when they could use them, many people fear leaving them on — and then being startled by having other drivers flashing their lights at them. Adaptive headlights provide the best possibke visibility all of the time, but can redirect their beams away from cars to eliminate the downside.
When will adaptive headlights roll out? As soon as possible on new cars. This is a technology that automakers have had for some time, so the major hurdle will be getting regulatory approval. Some cars currently on the road may already have the functionality but need a software update to activate it.
