The Reason Why BMW Is Discontinuing Laser Headlights

BMW has officially decided to discontinue laser-powered headlights. Andreas Suhrer, the company's large-car product manager, recently said that laser lighting has no future at BMW and the focus has shifted to Matrix LED lights. 

Laser-powered headlights used to be a popular pick for luxury vehicles — used by BMW up till current models like the BMW 4 Series GranCoupe and the powerful BMW X7. Able to shoot a strong beam out 600 meters, or more than 1,900 feet, the long-distance lighting solution offered higher intensity to drivers while not blinding oncoming traffic and using 30% less energy than other LED systems. In fact, one of the most exciting upgrades for the 2025 model of the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe was its stylish laser taillights. 

After they proved a popular design decision for BMW, it seems all the more shocking that the powerful laser lights that debuted on the BMW i8 in 2014 are being discontinued. This is apparently due to a new U.S. federal motor vehicle safety standard.

The new federal Rule 108 limits headlight power on vehicles sold in the United States. The limit is 150,000 candela, which no adaptive lighting system from Europe complies with. European systems go up to 430,000 candela and the continent's carmakers fought to allow the same in the United States, but the rule change continued to dilute laser lighting's power too much — it was only effective up to 250 meters, or a bit over 800 feet, with the new rule. This spelled the end of BMW's laser lights. 

Forbes quoted Suhrer as stating: "At the moment, we still have laser lighting on the G26 (4 Series GranCoupe) and the X7, but we don't have future plans. ... I don't think it's completely done but for the next models we are making the LED Matrix lights our focus."

Suhrer explained that the latest generation of LED Matrix lights has better distribution due to a wider spread of light while laser lights went more for distance. In the past, this meant that many BMWs used LED Matrix lights and laser lights together for optimal performance, but the U.S. no longer allows this.