One of the regulations that make vehicles in the US different from those in Europe or Japan is our headlight rules. They’re laid out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and changing them is—or used to be—a lengthy, laborious process, which is a major reason automotive lighting technology has lagged in the US. But the current administration says it’s time for “bolstering driver safety, slashing red tape, and embracing new technologies,” so it’s going to start a negotiated rulemaking process to rewrite the regulations to suit 2026.
When Ars started covering cars, automakers like Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, and Volvo were trying to import adaptive headlight technology. At the time, the FMVSS only allowed for “dumb” high- and low-beams, nothing else. Meanwhile, lighting technology evolved, adopting first lasers and then LEDs with addressable pixels that can block out those that would otherwise illuminate oncoming cars.
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