Rivian's smart headlights outshine in the U.S.

Driving the news: Rivian has made "adaptive driving beam" headlights standard on its new midsized R2, which went on sale in June.

• The electric vehicle maker was the first to deploy ADB headlights in the U.S. in 2024, with its refreshed 2025 R1T pickup and R1S SUV models.
• Tesla is the only other manufacturer that offers them in the U.S. today, but just on newer vehicles equipped with its matrix LED hardware.

The big picture: The U.S. legalized ADB headlights in 2022, years after they became mainstream in other markets.

• But most existing systems still can't be deployed here because U.S. standards are more restrictive, said Matthew Brumbelow, principal research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
• The testing process itself is burdensome for carmakers, say U.S. executives at supplier Forvia Hella, whose ADB technology is on several European models.
• "In fact, to meet the U.S. requirements, manufacturers would likely need to make a system that is more complex and less effective at the same time," Brumbelow told Axios.

Between the lines: "Activating the feature in the U.S. is not simply a software update; it requires new hardware and the validation and system calibration that go with it to ensure full compliance with U.S. requirements," explained BMW spokesman Jay Hanson.

• "Everyone has to redesign their system," said Mark Dahncke, a spokesman for Audi, which introduced the world's first matrix LED headlamps in 2013 on the 2014 A8.

Catch up quick: Headlights have changed a lot in recent decades, as anyone who drives at night knows.

• Halogen headlights, introduced in 1962, were the standard for about 30 years until brighter, bluish-tinted Xenon lamps arrived in the 1990s.
• Today's new cars typically come with much brighter, more efficient LED headlights — but they're also to blame for the blinding glare many drivers experience at night.

ADB headlights are an improvement on existing LED systems. Rather than a single light source, they feature a constellation of pixelated lights that can be controlled with software to shape the projected light beam and shield other motorists from glare.

Rivian's solution — an advantage that comes from developing an entirely new electrical architecture — was to design glare-free ADB headlights from scratch to satisfy U.S. regulators.

• "Because we own our perception software stack and in-house testing equipment, we trained and iterated our software every two weeks to pass every NHTSA scenario," a Rivian spokesperson said.
• "What would take a traditional supplier-dependent OEM years to iterate, our team accomplished in months."

How it works: Each headlight in the Rivian has 35 LEDs affixed to a printed circuit board.

• The vehicle's camera system continuously monitors the road ahead to detect oncoming headlights, trailing taillights and street lighting.
• When another vehicle enters the camera's field of view, the system dynamically turns off or dims only the specific LEDs pointed at the other vehicle, creating a moving "shadow box" around the car.
• Drivers can leave their high beams on, without blinding oncoming traffic.

My thought bubble: During a test drive of the new R2, I first noticed the unusually good visibility on road signs along I-43 heading north out of Milwaukee.

• Once I got onto the dark, two-lane roads in the Door Peninsula, I was truly wowed by the power of this technology.

What we're watching: Audi's upcoming Q7 and Q9, due later this year in the U.S., will feature ADB headlights, Dahncke said.

• BMW too is working on a system that will pass muster in the U.S., the company tells Axios.
• Forvia Hella, meanwhile, expects its tech to be on additional vehicles in the U.S. over the next few years.