Mazda’s ALH or Adaptive LED Headlights technology was recognized by the Japan Machinery Federation (JMF) by bestowing it with the METI (Ministry or Economy, Trade, and Industry) Minister’s Award.

The honor is given to companies, universities, research institutes, and R&D managers who are deemed to have “significantly contributed to the progress and development” to industrial technology through excellent research and development.

In the case of Mazda’s ALH system, the JMF recognized the Hiroshima-based carmaker’s efforts to democratize is headlight technology which is typically reserved only for luxury cars. In the case of Mazda, ALH is available on a vast majority of its vehicle line-up such as the Mazda6, MX-5, CX-5, and CX-9, some of which were implemented as early as 2016.

Adaptive LED Headlights (ALH) features LED array high-beam technology that splits the LEDs into independently controllable blocks. ALH uses a camera to detect oncoming and preceding vehicles, but instead of switching off the high beams entirely to avoid impairing other drivers’ vision, ALH shuts off only the LEDs shining in their specific direction. So, the high beams remain on at all times, enhancing visibility and safety at night when most fatal traffic accidents occur.

ALH also comes with wide-distribution low beams, which add LEDs to the sides of the headlamps to shed light where conventional headlights do not. Highway mode, meanwhile, is another ALH feature that automatically adjusts the forward aim of the headlamps upwards when travelling at highway speeds to illuminate road signs and potential obstacles earlier.