Audi Wants to Change a 45-Year-Old U.S. Headlight Rule

The headlights on the forthcoming Audi A8 sedan can illuminate around corners and throw brighter-than-average beams. They’re also smarter, adjusting automatically to traffic, pedestrians, and road conditions. “Extremely trick,” admired Car and Driver magazine. Audi plans to put the sedans into showrooms around the world this year. U.S. drivers likely will have to wait longer for models equipped with the headlights. That’s because a 1968 regulation requires that headlights switch between two settings: high and low.

Audi’s so-called matrix-beam headlights, an optional feature, are more complex than that. They’re made up of numerous LED bulbs that dim or brighten individually based on what cameras and sensors in the car see ahead. The system allows drivers to ride with some high beams on at all times without blinding others on the road. Say there’s a pickup truck in front of the Audi; one or several of the Audi’s bulbs flip off, while other high-beam bulbs continue to light up the lower areas in the Audi driver’s line of sight.