Looking to find out if you have Matrix Headlights, or what features they have? Or do you want to know if you can get them retrofitted? This article has you covered!
Matrix Headlight Features
Tesla’s new matrix headlights have quite a few cool features, some of which are available only in Europe, but some of which are also now available in North America!
The Adaptive headlights feature brighten and dim selective LEDs based upon both oncoming vehicles and vehicles ahead of you, helping to reduce headlight glare for other vehicles, while also providing the driver (or FSD!) with as much light as possible.
Matrix headlights will also follow curves in the road, delivering light to the direction that you steer in. This is a pretty impressive and useful feature, which helps to ensure that drivers can see where they’re going in the dark, even on winding roads.
For now, Europe has some additional features – with the ability to illuminate even further on highways than in North America. We’re not sure when or if this will come to North America – as it may be a legislative or policy issue with the NHTSA or its Canadian equivalent.
The final cool feature – Matrix headlights can display complex imagery or text in Lightshows! This one is neat for those who enjoy Tesla Lightshows – run any default Lightshow and T E S L A should show up if you’re parked up against a wall.
When Matrix Headlights were delivered
Tesla began to deliver Matrix headlights initially on the Model 3 and Model Y, starting in early 2022. However, due to the pandemic and parts issues, many late 2022 and early 2023 models still have projector headlights on most variants in the range. The Model S, since its refresh, has always shipped with Matrix headlights. On the other hand, the first Model X vehicles with Matrix headlights only shipped in June of 2023.
The updated 2024 Model 3 Highland also has support for Adaptive high beams.
At this point, nobody is quite sure whether the Cybertruck has shipped with Adaptive headlight support just yet. Of note is the fact that the 2024.20 adaptive headlight update does not include the Cybertruck in the list of effected vehicles in particular.
How to tell if you have Matrix Headlights
Determining if you have Matrix Headlights is pretty simple! Look at your headlights from in front, preferably when the vehicle is turned off. If you see a large, round projector lens like the image below, your vehicle has matrix headlights.
Matrix headlights have a circular dome projector on the outer edge.
Not a Tesla App
Matrix Headlight Retrofits
If you don’t have Matrix headlights, and do really want to have these features, there are a few ways to get them onto your vehicle. Based on an estimate received on June 03, 2024, the older reflector-to-matrix headlight retrofit is possible, but quite expensive unless you’re up for some DIY.
Tesla provided an estimate of approximately $1,500 per headlight on a Model Y (one left, one right), and a labour fee of approximately $550 USD. This quote was received in Canada, so there may be some differences based on your local service center. This price is also drastically higher for the Model S and Model X, according to the conversation had with Tesla Service.
On the flipside, they also mentioned that if you find the headlights yourselves, and do the installation on your own, they’ll enable the flag to turn on Adaptive Headlights. You may be able to find new or used Matrix headlights at part vendors or on auction sites, at your own risk.
But one note of caution – until this flag is enabled, your new headlights won’t work at all! They said they’d charge the equivalent of a service visit fee for this – approximately $50.
DIY Headlight Swap Overview
You can find Matrix headlights for the Model Y and Model 3 on auction sites for approximately $300-$400 USD each. The installation procedure is not the easiest, but it is something that a confident owner could swap out. We’d estimate this procedure would take an average user about 2 to 4 hours to do. You don’t need a second set of hands for this in particular, but they would speed up the process of realigning the front fascia and frunk compartment.
After that is a harder step – the front fascia. If you’ve got PPF on, this may be a even more complicated, as your front fascia PPF may also include the headlights. The fascia is held on with bolts and clips – you’ll want to carefully follow the Service Manual here.
After that, you remove one headlight at a time – disconnecting the electrical connector, and then removing the Torx bolts holding it in place.
When putting your new ones in, you’ll need to align the red alignment stud into the correct spot – a similar red alignment hole in the body of your vehicle. After that, reinstall the Torx bolts and electrical connections, and then put it all back together!
You’ll need to conduct a full vehicle Software Reinstall, another procedure available in the Service Menu. This will initialize the headlights, but they will not light up. You’ll need Tesla Service or a ToolBox3 subscription to enable the “Global” flag for headlights in your vehicle, disabling the “SAE” flag. Once that’s done, make sure to align your headlights!
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Tesla has been quietly building something pretty unique on the streets of Hollywood—and we’ve been keeping a close eye on it. That’s right: the long-anticipated Tesla Hollywood Drive-In, Diner, and Supercharger is shaping up to be one of the most creative approaches to EV charging yet.
But this isn’t your average Supercharger site. It features a retro-futuristic, 24-hour diner and an outdoor movie theater, blending the charm of the 1980s with the tech-forward vibe of the 2020s.
Tesla hacker Greentheonly managed to spot some new evidence of changes within Tesla’s 2025.8.6 software build, which includes a new modal for “Charger Diner Controls”. While there isn’t anything to activate this new modal just yet, it is an indication of how Tesla intends to integrate the experience right into each and every Tesla.
The text in the modal reads: “Plug in, place your order, recharge” - which means that once you arrive and are plugged in, you’ll be able to place your order - and likely pay through Tesla’s payment system. It seems like this will all be done through either the Tesla app or the vehicle’s tocuh screen. No need to fumble with a separate app or pull out your wallet.
This is definitely a level of integration you just can’t have anywhere else - and just like any other Supercharger site, the Tesla Diner will appear as a suggested site for charging when you’re navigating or looking around the Hollywood area.
This is our best look yet at the two 45-foot LED screens at @Tesla's upcoming Hollywood diner and Supercharger.
We can also see the second Supercharger lot on the left with solar canopies. This will be one of the largest Supercharging spots in North America. pic.twitter.com/aWUe67M5vw
Those two absolutely gigantic 45-foot LED screens have now been turned on for the first time, meaning that Tesla is likely close to opening the Supercharger site. The screens were spotted displaying some test patterns, as well as some Tesla-themed content. It really brings the construction site to life - and it's the clearest sign that the Diner is well on its way to completion.
We’re hoping that this first Tesla Diner sees plenty of success - and that Tesla begins opening more of these types of facilities throughout North America, and eventually globally. Given Tesla’s penchant for unique Superchargers, we imagine this could truly be the case one day.
As Tesla continues to push the capabilities of its hardware as it prepares for autonomy with FSD Unsupervised, there has been a distinct divergence in features between HW4-equipped vehicles on FSD V13, and HW3-equipped vehicles on FSD V12.6.
There are definitely reasons for this, and Tesla hacker Greentheonly, over on X, went into great detail on some of the reasons why this divergence has continued and is likely to continue.
If you’re interested in some background, we recommend the following articles. Although they’re not necessary, you may enjoy reading them before diving right in if you enjoy this topic.
Back in the summer of 2024, we reported that Tesla’s HW4 had yet to reach its full potential, and that HW3 still had some compute to work with. However, FSD has undergone a rapid evolution - there are now fundamental differences driven by the hardware capabilities and sheer scale of the latest builds of FSD.
FSD V13’s Gargantuan Neural Networks
FSD V13 is a substantial leap for Tesla. It features substantially larger neural networks - the core brain that processes all the environmental data and makes decisions. Those networks are far larger in V13 than in V12, which results in a much smoother and human-like expereience.
Tesla’s FSD computers contain two nodes. According to Green’s analysis of FSD V13, Node B, which handles the actual end-to-end driving logic, tripled in size from 2.3 GB in V12 to a staggering 7.5 GB in V13. That’s a substantial increase, and one of the main reasons why HW3 can’t handle FSD V13. While Interestingly, Node A on HW4 remains similar in size to FSD V12, using up about 2.3 GB.
However, this massive size is also pushing the limits of HW4. While this isn’t necessarily a big problem immediately - at the end of the day, there is a limited amount of compute and ram available and model sizes will likely grow in the future. In fact, Tesla is planning to scale model sizes in the next FSD version and has already said they’ll need to optimize them, as context size is limited by on-board memory.
HW3 Limitations
Since HW3 can’t run the latest FSD models, where does this leave millions of Tesla vehicles equipped with the now-legacy FSD hardware? Are they hitting a dead end? Not exactly - Tesla has promised to replace HW3 computers with new units during the Q4 2024 Earnings Call, but only for those who have purchased FSD and only if Tesla is no longer able to update HW3 vehicles.
There’s no doubt Tesla hopes to achieve autonomy and then work backwards to make it compatible with HW3, but that’s unlikely to happen with the limited ram available on HW3.
Tesla’s AI team has continued to say that they’re still working on updating HW3 vehicles - but that they will be taking a backburner to updates for HW4 until the team can optimize the model efficiently enough to run on the smaller footprint. That means V12.6 isn’t just V13 “lite” - it is a distinctly different software branch tailored specifically for HW3’s capabilities.
Green's analysis showed that HW3 under V12.6 runs NNs totaling 1.2 GB on Node A and 3.1 GB on Node B, which is significantly smaller than the footprint of V13. Back in November, we discussed how Tesla is running a smaller and optimized FSD model on HW3, with the specific goal of achieving similar performance to V13. FSD V12.6 appears to be the current implementation of that smaller model strategy.
Green also found that of the total neural nets used for FSD, 135 are shared between the current V12.6 and FSD V13.2 releases, which is the result of Tesla’s AI team working to optimize and refine the V13 model for HW3. So some neural nets are shared between the two sets of hardware, while others are specific to HW3 or HW4.
AI4 in the Future
The fact that V13 is already stretching HW4’s limits makes us wonder about Tesla’s imminent release of AI5. Last year, Tesla mentioned that AI5 would be 18 months away - which is now about 8 months away, and potentially even sooner to help solve the autonomy problem.
At the same time, Tesla is looking to launch Unsupervised FSD in June in Austin, Texas, with presumably HW4, which would indicate that they’re confident in its capabilities.
Unless Tesla launches the Robotaxi network with AI5, we don’t believe AI5 will be a “must have” item. Undoubtedly, it will result in similar improvements to HW4 compared to HW3. However, the software needed to take advantage of the newer hardware could still be years away.
All eyes will be on Tesla’s Robotaxi network launch and the hardware required for it. For now, HW4 owners are in good hands with future updates are on the horizon, and we’re certainly excited for what’s next.
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