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This technology exists in Europe, it's not allowed in the US due to very specific wording about headlight laws here, but very recently regulations were changed

This technology exists in Europe, it's not allowed in the US due to very specific wording about headlight laws here, but very recently regulations were changed to allow for it. Not sure if it was in the infrastructure bill that already passed, or the follow-up one they're currently trying to pass. Most BMW (and probably Mercedes, Audi etc) with adaptive LED lights built after ~2017 have the hardware for this for use in international markets, and could probably be retrofitted with a firmware update unlocking it for use in the US market.

kube-system 5y ago
Auto high-beams is absolutely allowed in the US and common on new cars. I've had a couple cars with this feature.
- hadlock 5y ago
  My current car has auto high beams. Beam shaping is different technology, rather than a boolean operation, it allows the computer to turn off specific LEDs that are pointed at oncoming traffic, leaving the road ahead of you fully illuminated without blinding oncomming traffic
  - kube-system 5y ago
    The GP specifically referred to a vehicle that would "turn your high beams off"
clort 5y ago
This technology is not great on a windy[1] european road though. I rented a car recently and noticed that it was auto-dipping but the problem is it dips once it has detected the oncoming vehicle. That is fractionally too late as the driver has already been dazzled. Manually, I would dip the headlights just before the car came into view because I could see the headlights looming. [1] a road with lots of turns, not one where the wind is blowing
- jagger27 5y ago
  “Winding road” is a nice way to disambiguate from gusty.
stronglikedan 5y ago
> it's not allowed in the US My MDX does it, and they have had that capability since at least 2017.
- sbradford26 5y ago
  I believe the tech that is not allowed in the US is something that literally dims sections of the lights that would shine line into the eyes of an oncoming driver. This is different than the auto dimming lights feature in US cars that just shuts off the high beams when an oncoming car is detected. Most of the tech is made by a company called Gentex. If you have an auto dimming rear view mirror in your car they most likely made it. Press release about the feature I am referring to: https://ir.gentex.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new-gentex-high-beam-technology-all-light-none-glare https://ir.gentex.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new...
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    This article has pictures; perhaps easier for a quick overview: https://www.manufacturer.lighting/info/162/ https://www.manufacturer.lighting/info/162/

kube-system 5y ago

Auto high-beams is absolutely allowed in the US and common on new cars. I've had a couple cars with this feature.

hadlock 5y ago
My current car has auto high beams. Beam shaping is different technology, rather than a boolean operation, it allows the computer to turn off specific LEDs that are pointed at oncoming traffic, leaving the road ahead of you fully illuminated without blinding oncomming traffic
- kube-system 5y ago
  The GP specifically referred to a vehicle that would "turn your high beams off"

clort 5y ago

This technology is not great on a windy[1] european road though. I rented a car recently and noticed that it was auto-dipping but the problem is it dips once it has detected the oncoming vehicle. That is fractionally too late as the driver has already been dazzled. Manually, I would dip the headlights just before the car came into view because I could see the headlights looming. [1] a road with lots of turns, not one where the wind is blowing

jagger27 5y ago
“Winding road” is a nice way to disambiguate from gusty.

stronglikedan 5y ago

> it's not allowed in the US My MDX does it, and they have had that capability since at least 2017.

sbradford26 5y ago
I believe the tech that is not allowed in the US is something that literally dims sections of the lights that would shine line into the eyes of an oncoming driver. This is different than the auto dimming lights feature in US cars that just shuts off the high beams when an oncoming car is detected. Most of the tech is made by a company called Gentex. If you have an auto dimming rear view mirror in your car they most likely made it. Press release about the feature I am referring to: https://ir.gentex.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new-gentex-high-beam-technology-all-light-none-glare https://ir.gentex.com/news-releases/news-release-details/new...
- Symbiote 5y ago
  This article has pictures; perhaps easier for a quick overview: https://www.manufacturer.lighting/info/162/ https://www.manufacturer.lighting/info/162/