Rivian highlighted in The Atlantic article about headlights in America

[JeffC]

No point linking to the article because it is behind a paywall, but I was happy to see the author's praise for Rivian as the first American mfg to implement adaptive headlights that comply with NHTSA regulations.


Driving in America Is Headlight Hell
Car bulbs don’t have to be this blinding.
By Andrew Moseman

a couple of key highlights:
" An NHTSA spokesperson pointed me to the stance that the agency outlined a few years ago, which says that Europe’s test for adaptive bulbs lacks the “objective performance criteria” necessary for approving car tech in the U.S. "

" Instead of turning on technology that already exists, the pathway for car companies to fix American headlight glare involves reinventing their smart headlights. In 2024, Rivian put the tech into its pickups and SUVs and became the first automaker to activate compliant adaptive beams in the U.S "

Sponsored

 

[racekarl]

The author did a pretty poor job explaining exactly WHY these headlights have taken so long to cross the pond, and the article also unfairly characterizes the US regulators as having overcomplicated things by not "adopt(ing) the international standard and instead (drawing) up separate, stricter requirements."

This is a refrain you often read online when it comes to adaptive headlights and it's based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how vehicle regulations work.

Vehicle regulations in the EU and US operate on completely different principles. The EU uses a "type certification" scheme, wherein a finished vehicle is tested by the government before sale, and if it passes the tests the manufacturer is permitted to build and sell that model. The US uses a "self certification" model wherein the government writes a prescriptive set of rules and tests, manufacturers test their vehicles themselves, and are allowed to build and sell that model a long as they can show it passed the tests and follows the rules.

Because under the EU model the testers are government employees working only for the people, some subjectivity is allowed in their testing. EU headlight regulations say things like the headlights "should not cause any discomfort, distraction or glare..." This sort of wording is very difficult to use in the US-style of regulations which need to be very specific and precise so that consumers can feel confident their vehicle was tested to the same standards regardless of make and model.

You can imagine the complexity involved in writing objective, repeatable tests for a technology that is by its nature dynamic and adaptive; this challenge is what explains much of the delay in bringing these headlights to the US. The US standard is only "stricter" in the sense that it has objective measurements of performance as opposed to subjective assessments.