The Cadillac XT6 is the three-row crossover the luxury brand desperately needed in order to boost sales. While we would have preferred for the XT6 to have been built on a rear-wheel-drive platform like one of its main rivals, the Lincoln Aviator, it's still packed with plenty of cool features buyers in this segment demand. However, it appears that one of the XT6's coolest features is actually illegal in the US but perfectly legal elsewhere.

Cadillac Society has learned that the XT6 can be equipped with a feature called Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB). It's basically the next phase in advanced headlight tech that could one day replace Cadillac's IntelliBeam automatic high-beam headlights. Here's how it works: the system detects an oncoming vehicle and it "shades" a specific area of the headlight to prevent glare in the eyes of the other driver. Sounds pretty cool, right? It is, but, again, it's illegal here.

How come? Because the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration has outdated lighting regulations. Cadillac isn't the only luxury brand whose LED lights are forbidden fruit. Audi's Matrix LEDs are also currently banned in America and its tech is similar to Cadillac's in that each headlight can adjust how much illumination is projected and creates segments within those beams where the light can be brighter or dimmer.

ADB is part of the optional LED headlamp system available only on XT6s equipped with the Premium Package. While base XT6s feature headlights with a single LED projector, the premium headlights have three projectors. One is for close-up lighting and the other two are for high-beam lighting.

The XT6 was developed from the get-go with ADB technology because Cadillac was hoping the NHTSA would update the regulations by the time the vehicle went on sale. Unfortunately, that has yet to happen.

For now, only XT6 buyers in Europe and China can enjoy ADB but given that Cadillac isn't the only brand to have this lighting technology, chances are the feds will update these outdated rules sooner or later. Automakers will probably have to team up to force that change.