What’s one of the biggest complaints when driving at night or in low visibility conditions? It’s usually the blinding glare of another car’s headlights, forcing you to stare blankly into what feels like enough lights for the half-time show at the Super Bowl. There’s no question that headlights have become more powerful over the last century, but their potency also means a higher possibility of blinding other drivers. So, what’s the solution? We’re already seeing the answer in America and, more so, around the globe.
Where We Started: From Oil to Electric Headlights
Headlights aren’t a new invention. The earliest headlights were developed out of necessity in the late 1880s. Fueled by oil or acetylene, the first headlight used a mirror positioned behind the flame to focus light forward. While the design was ingenious for the time, the lights required refueling and were not that bright.
Automakers worked overtime to develop better headlights as automobiles put the world on wheels. The first electric headlights debuted in the early 1900s, with Cadillac integrating them with the vehicle’s onboard electrical system when it introduced the first electrical ignition in 1912. The new design pushed the industry forward, eventually leading to sealed beam headlights in the 1940s, which were mandated on all cars in America until 1983.
After the sealed beam headlight requirement was finally ended, manufacturers began experimenting with new designs. The evolution continued in the 1990s when automakers introduced xenon high-intensity discharge headlights, known for their brightness and longevity. These types of headlights served the industry well until the new millennium when Audi transformed the landscape with a new light called the LED. The LED craze officially began.
The LED Craze and the Demand for More Convenience
LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are far brighter and more efficient than xenon or halogen alternatives. They also last significantly longer, as we know from swapping to LED bulbs in our homes. The LED craze is everywhere, especially in the automotive realm.
LED lights are a major selling point in cars, extending our visibility and offering a new type of convenience with advanced features like automatic high beams. Automatic high beams are a worthwhile upgrade, automatically brightening or dimming based on the traffic and conditions. The convenience is undeniable; I can drive my favorite backroad and never worry about turning off my high beams to accommodate other drivers. Nor do I have to switch to low beams when entering a residential area. My visibility never suffers unless, of course, another driver doesn’t have the feature and forgets their manners.
So, how can headlights become any more convenient if automatic high beams don’t require you to do anything? Let’s welcome adaptive headlights into the chat. This cutting-edge feature introduces pixel headlights, the latest craze in the global automotive landscape.
Modern Ingenuity: Adaptive Headlights
Automatic high beams are the most basic form of adaptive headlights because they adapt to the situation automatically and without driver input. However, this adaptability has advanced over the last decade, even more so in Europe and Asia.
Instead of only adapting the brightness of the lights to the conditions, adaptive headlights also adapt where the light is focused. For example, curve-adaptive headlights enhance your field of vision using bulbs that pivot as your vehicle turns, unlike a standard LED headlight that only focuses the light ahead in a straight line. Cornering headlights are also considered a type of adaptive headlight; rather than pivoting, they include fixed side-facing lights that automatically activate when the steering wheel is turned or the turn signal is engaged.
My SUV has automatic headlights, which already feel like a luxurious upgrade over the old-school headlights on my Jeep Wrangler that required my input to switch between high and low beams. For me, even something like curve-adaptive headlights feels ingenious, but I’ve recently learned that more advanced options are available. The only caveat is that you won’t find these headlights in America—at least not yet.
Headlights ‘Round the World
Drivers in Europe and Asia don’t complain about being blinded by another car’s headlights because they have access to more advanced technologies. However, federal regulations in America require distinct high-beam and low-beam patterns. These regulations have caused a significant delay in headlight technology, leaving us blinded but not in the dark.
We’re seeing more automakers offer adaptive headlights, but European drivers have already moved on to innovative features like adaptive driving beam headlights (also known as “matrix” or “pixel” headlights). This is an entirely new type of headlight that replaces the traditional bulb with a matrix of LED pixels that can be individually controlled. The ingenuity is remarkable, considering the first headlights used a mirror to direct the light produced by a flame.
Adaptive driving beam headlights rely on sensors to monitor your surroundings, detecting other vehicles relative to the direction you’re driving. The software uses this data to finetune each individual pixel, dimming the LEDs that affect oncoming traffic without compromising your visibility. The technology creates a shadow-like effect around oncoming vehicles, eliminating the risk of blinding them but still ensuring you can see everything ahead.
Real-Life Application: Porsche Lights the Way
Porsche showcases the ingenuity of matrix headlights with the Cayenne, which features the automaker’s world-renowned LED headlights with matrix beam technology. The application paints a clearer picture of how pixel headlights can truly transform our experience behind the wheel. So, how do they work?
The Cayenne’s sophisticated front fascia is framed by LED headlights that offer far more than what meets the eye. Each headlight has two chips that measure half the size of your thumbnail. Although the chip doesn’t look significant, each has 16,384 individual micro-LED pixels. That’s over 32,000 pixels in each headlight.
Porsche’s matrix technology controls these pixels by gathering information using the onboard camera, navigation system, and speed. As the control module for the lights gathers data, it instantly adjusts the pixels for optimum visibility. For example, the high beam is divided into a matrix of 11 segments that pinpoint the direction of the light. When no traffic is detected, the system switches on a secondary high beam, which increases total output from 1,400 to 2,500 lumens.
While the technology is already impressive, Porsche doesn’t stop there. Instead of simply dimming pixels to avoid blinding other drivers, the matrix beams use that extra energy to intensify the brightness of the other pixels. This feature is significant, making the headlights more adaptive than any other application.
The Road Ahead
Today, we still suffer from the occasional incident where we’re blinded by someone’s high beams. We don’t know any different, so we flash our headlights as a polite reminder and continue on our way. Yet, looking overseas and at automotive pioneers like Porsche reveals this doesn’t have to be the status quo.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration passed a pivotal law in 2022 when it made adaptive driving beam headlights legal on new vehicles. Based on global advancements in headlight design over the last decade, the law has been long overdue. So, why haven’t we seen the application in new vehicles across the industry?
Adaptive driving beams are still limited to high-end models from brands like Porsche, Audi, BMW, Tesla, and Rivian. While the new law makes them legal in America, bringing them here isn’t a straightforward process because the United States has different limitations on the brightness and the differentiation between the low and high beams. Because of this, automakers that have the technology in Europe have to modify it to abide by American regulations; it’s a costly endeavor that adds to the already increasing price tag of a new vehicle. For now, we’re left hopeful and patiently waiting for America to catch up with the rest of the world.
