http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...volutionary-audi-headlight-tech-banned-in-us/
"Back in January, Audi introduced a new headlight technology called "matrix-beam LED lighting" at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show. The automaker then
teased it in a Twilight-inspired (i.e., attractive vampires frolicking and partying in the woods while they consume blood) television advertisement
during this year's Super Bowl. The benefits of the technology are clear: it helps drivers see around corners and illuminates more of the road without
blinding oncoming motorists. After a brief demonstration, Car and Driver called it "[e]xtremely trick."
While you'd think government safety advocates would be clamoring for a technology that could improve roadway safety and make life simpler for drivers, they
aren't. In fact, it's actually illegal on this side of the pond.
Matrix-beam LED lighting uses multiple LEDs to allow drivers to essentially have high beams on at all times. Cameras and sensors direct the LEDs to turn
off or dim in response to what's ahead of them (i.e., oncoming traffic) to improve visibility. The problem is that in 1968 -- two years before the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration was founded -- the U.S. instituted a regulation that required all vehicle headlights to be capable of switching from
high to low-beam, a distinction eliminated by the self-adjusting Audi lights. The rule is still on the books, and the NHTSA isn't backing down from its
enforcement.
Of course, that doesn't mean NHTSA is not open to new technologies. Joan Claybrook, the first NHTSA administrator and president emeritus of Public Citizen,
a Washington-based advocacy group, told Bloomberg that companies come to them "all the time" with requests to change safety standards.
However, it isn't sold on this one because it isn't fully convinced that LEDs make roads any safer, leaning on tests that have shown that cars with LED
brake lights get rear-ended more often than those with incandescent lights.
"The idea [Audi has] is a good one, and I realize they'd make a lot of money from it," said Claybrook. But given the current budget cuts about to take
effect across the U.S. and their looming affects, she doubts "that a lighting system that dims" is "No. 1 on legislators list of things to discuss."
While the new lighting system's availability is still is question here, you can a brand new Audi A8 sedan equipped with it in Europe, though. The cost: a
mere $3000 over sticker."
