After rolling out the new adaptive high beam functionality to the new Model 3 in Europe, and also being approved to add it to the Model Y and legacy Model 3, Tesla will also soon be deploying the feature to the Model S and Model X.
For several years Tesla vehicles have been delivered with matrix LED headlights. These headlights have the capability to turn on or off individual pixels in the light beam, a feature known as adaptive headlights, or adaptive high beams. This allows you to keep your high beams on for greater visibility, but the lights will automatically dim or turn off certain pixels to avoid blinding oncoming motorists or pedestrians.
Despite having the capability to do this for more than three years, Tesla has surprisingly not turned on adaptive high beams, something it could do through a free over-the-air (OTA) software update. That changed last month when Tesla finally turned on the feature in the 2024.2 software update, but only in the new Model 3 in Europe.
Fortunately the company has not forgotten about its other owners with matrix LED headlights, as last month Tesla was approved to also roll out the feature to the Model Y and legacy Model 3.
Not to be left out, now the Model S and Model X, who received matrix LED headlights in 2022, have now also received this approval, according to European certification documents shared today by X user Julien.
Interestingly, the approval document calls it ‘adaptive front light system,’ and not ‘adaptive high beam’ like in the Model 3/Y approval, suggesting the Model S/X headlights might have more adaptive functionality than its siblings. It could also however be different wording used for the same feature.
Introduction of adaptive front lights for refreshed #ModelS and #ModelX with release of EC-TC #V09!#ModelX refresh got the new compatible front lights later (around June 2023)! pic.twitter.com/vo3VacspiR
— Julien (@eivissacopter) February 9, 2024
While this is good news for owners in Europe, questions remain about whether this feature will roll out to rest of the world, including Canada and the US. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approved adaptive headlights back in 2022, finally catching up to the rest of the world, but despite this there have been no sign of the feature coming to North America.
If you are a Model S/X owner and are wondering if you have matrix LED headlights, here’s a comparison of the previous generation (left) and current generation (right) headlights on a Model S (top) and Model X (bottom).
Here are a couple of videos of the adaptive high beam feature in use on the new Model 3.
