NHTSA Finally Allows Smart Adaptive Headlights: How Do Automatic High Beams Work?

Night driving along the highway can be a bit hard. Many car manufacturers seem aware of this and are currently developing technologies that can aid drivers in improving road user safety.

Normally, driving in the countryside with minimal light from street lamps requires drivers to turn on high beams. This helps the driver can see the road ahead, but it can also blind incoming traffic.

This has been a problem that drivers have struggled over in these last few years.

Automatic Hi-Beams and How They Work

One of the main solutions that experts came up with is the automatic high beams or AHB.

AHB are sensors that are mounted in front of the car to scan for foreign sources of light. In a nutshell, it can detect oncoming headlights, tail lights, and even blinding lights from street lamps.

If this sensor detects incoming traffic, it then sends a signal to the car's computer to disengage its high-beam. AHB will help prevent blinding other drivers who are coming down the road or drivers who might be further in front.

Note, however, there are limitations to this technology. According to Bierltoyota, since AHB is only programmed to detect light, circumstances, where light is reflected on a shiny object like a street sign, can also be mistaken as incoming traffic.

Often AHB makes the mistake of prematurely disengaging its high beam.

Another thing to note is that this only engages at 25 mph and above. This is to ensure that AHB doesn't suddenly engage in slow-speed traffic.

One of the biggest features of AHB is that it only utilizes the high beam of the car by turning it on or off.

Adaptive Driving Beams and How They Work

Keep in mind that Adaptive Driving Beams, also known as ADB, are somewhat different from AHB. Their difference lies in the fact that ADB uses multiple small LED bulbs that are independent of one another.

Motortrend explains that similarly to AHD, ADB uses sensors that are placed in the front of the car. However, ADB features a much more intuitive response against lights.

Whenever it detects headlights from incoming traffic, it smartly dims out bulbs that are facing the opposing lanes while keeping the ones that are pointed directly in front well lit. This will prevent the other driver from being blinded while maintaining a bit of light on the road in front.

Government Take On ADB

The ADB has faced multiple criticisms because they are "uncontrollable" and independent from the driver. However, it is undeniable that ADB is a useful option when compared to traditional configurations of high-beam and low beam.

According to The Verge, with the passage of President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, has amended the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard or known as FMVSS No. 108.

Note that under FMVSS no. 108, they standardized the binary hi/low headlight technology.

Due to the recent amendment of FMVSS no. 108, the development and the standardization of ADB can now give car manufacturers more leeway to develop and further improve ADB technologies.