Where art thou, Pixel headlights?
Although heavily advertised by Polestar and even imprinted on the front headlights, the famous Pixel headlights are not actually enabled in the North American market even though I often see them listed as a feature on used models.
What Are Pixel Headlights?
What are the Pixel headlights? Officially referred to as “Pixel LED headlights with adaptive high beam“1, these are some details:
Polestar LED "Pixel Technology" headlamps for the Polestar 2 feature 84 camera-controlled pixel LED's in each headlamp that automatically adapt to current light and weather conditions, ensuring vehicles from oncoming traffic are never dazzled. Achieve optimal illumination of the road with the "Pixel Technology" headlights because the high beam is always on and will automatically dim whenever a vehicle approaches yours.
These headlights work in Europe2, but even though they are actually installed on all North American Polestar 2 models with the Pilot pack, they are not functional.
Here is a video of how they work:
Tesla Matrix Headlights
Although I don’t personally care much about this headlight technology since I don’t tend to drive much on dark, unlit roads my curiosity about this was piqued when I got a text from a Tesla-owning friend of mine. He sent me this note from the latest Tesla software release notes:
Adaptive Headlights
Included in 2025.14.1
High beams now adapt to reduce glare for other drivers and cyclists. By detecting other road users, and selectively dimming individual pixels of the headlight, your high beams stay on more often for greater visibility at night. To turn them on, go to Controls > Lights > Adaptive Headlights.
Tesla refers to these as “Matrix” headlights and they are available on Teslas made for model year 2022 or later3.
That description sounds a lot like the Pixel headlight description. So why are they now available on Teslas but not on Polestar 2?
Complex Situation
I asked this question Reddit and setting aside the usual gatekeeping responses of “iF yOu SeaRcH yOu’LL seE ThIS hAS alREady BEen dIScusseD”, there are two groups of replies. Both groups refer to US regulatory issues, but one group says “Hardware isn’t compliant” and the other group says “Compliance testing has not been done”.
After having read and researched this more, I’m inclined to think it’s a little bit of column “A” and a little bit of column “B”. The best evidence for it being a hardware issue is a Reddit post where a user claims they got a reply from Polestar on Facebook about the Pixel headlights:
In an attempt to future-proof cars for when regulations eventually changed, we fitted all cars in SAE markets with the necessary available hardware to enable full functionality with a software update. However, the new FMVSS proposal has presented requirements that cannot be met by software alone.
The new FMVSS proposal is very different to ECE requirements, and our supplier indicates that the implementation of the ADB function for SAE markets requires compromises to the ADB function and what we consider safe behavior on a Polestar 2 headlamp with pixel technology. Significant hardware redevelopment is likely required to avoid these compromises. Therefore, the decision has ben made to not implement ADB functionality for SAE markets for Polestar 2.
Note: ECE is Economic Commission for Europe. FMVSS is Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (US). ADB is Adaptive Driving Beam. SAE is Society of Automotive Engineers and its standards are usually applied to the US and Canada.
If you can trust a reply from Polestar on Facebook, this seems to close the book on the topic. Here is the 2022 regulations update (about 110 pages):
The Polestar 2 Pixel headlights have 84 LEDs in each headlight and the Tesla matrix headlights have 104 per headlight, so perhaps those extra LEDs are actually needed to meet regulations. Considering the length and complexity of those regulations, I’d bet there is more to the story. I found the regulations to be largely inscrutable, so it’s not something I’m going to be able to figure out! Still, it does seem like Polestar is just taking the word of their supplier regarding this.
It is surprising that it took Tesla three years to get compliance approval for their matrix headlights. Or perhaps, with Elon’s more recent “government connections”, it was fast-tracked for approval. No way to know, I suppose, but the timing is interesting.
On the other hand, another person on Reddit claimed they got a reply from Polestar on Facebook about the Pixel headlights, and it seems to contradict what was said above.
We're currently testing and verifying the Adaptive High Beam functionality according to the rule issued by NHTSA. It's important that the headlamp system fulfills new legal requirements. As soon as we can enable it, we will.
It’s hard to trust what you’re told from customer support or a “social media team”, who often have incorrect information.
The best answer I saw was from my Reddit post. A user said that they heard that the Polestar Pixel lights are not capable of hitting the 1 degree accuracy that the US regulations require and instead can only reach the 5 degree accuracy that is required for Europe. There does seem to be a mention of this 1-degree zone in the regulations, so this explanation sounds plausible to me.
The true story may be elusive, but now that the Polestar 2 is no longer sold in the US (due to the tariff tax on Chinese-made vehicles), it seems like Polestar has little incentive to continue with compliance testing (if they even started) just to get this feature enabled for about 28,000 previously sold vehicles. And if it is really a hardware issue, there is no way they would take on the cost of replacing what are very expensive headlights.
So regardless of the actual reasons, it is highly doubtful that the Pixel headlights will ever be officially made available for North America. Europe for the win, I guess!
OrBit
However, there is a way to enable the Pixel headlights if you’re willing spend some money. There is a software product called OrBit that can change some of the Polestar 2 feature codes and one of the things it can easily do is enable Pixel headlights.
The steps appear to be:
Change config option "109 Active High Beam" to "06 With AHB3 (Adaptive) Pixel Light.
OrBit costs about $325 for initial purchase (for a single VIN) and then about $100/year after that. The above code might need to be re-applied after a software update is installed. According to users that have done this, some say that it is not always reset with every update. If it is reset, you’ll need an active OrBit subscription to re-apply it.
FWIW, the legality of doing this is questionable.
I do not have OrBit. Perhaps there will be a reason for me to get it at some point, but even after writing 1100 words about Pixel headlights, I don’t really care enough about them to purchase OrBit and enable them. Perhaps as I get farther along in my Polestar 2 journey, I’ll reconsider.
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The Pixel lights may be used for other purposes, but this post is talking about their use with the adaptive high beam feature.
Apparently the Pilot Lite pack excluded them.
Cybertruck excluded.
Pixel headlights are ‘enabled’, what is not enable is the Adaptive High Beam feature. Polestar has also publicly stated on its own forum site many times that their suppliers says that because of the NHSTA requirements for the US that a hardware change is required. Your pixel headlights are used for nor/auto high beams and the feature where the lights bend right/;eft when turning (and the starting your car animation.)
Enabling via OrBit is actually against the law in the US.