Exterior Lights

Last updated: November 22, 2023

Overview

The exterior lights on Cybertruck are all LED components. Power and operation of the lights is controlled by the three vehicle controllers (VCREAR, VCLEFT, VCRIGHT). As with other Mid-Voltage components in Cybertruck, the exterior lights utilize electronic fuses incorporated into the vehicle controllers.

Front View

• Headlamp left
• Headlamp right
• Turn left & Signature light
• Turn right & Signature light
• Light bar (Daytime Running Light (DRL) / Position Light (POS))
• Side marker left
• Side marker right

Rear View

• Body side tail light left (Tail / Brake / Turn light)
• Body side tail light right (Tail / Brake / Turn light)
• Tailgate light (Aux light on top and Center High-Mounted Stop Lamp (CHMSL) in the lower middle section)
• Reverse lamps (2x)
• License plate lights (2x)
• Rear reflector & marker light left
• Rear reflector & marker light right

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Specifications

Architecture and Control

The exterior lighting system control is distributed between the vehicle controllers as depicted in the diagram below. The front headlamps have their own ECU and are receiving signals from the vehicle controllers over LIN bus. The rear lights consist of the body and tailgate, stop lights, and the license plate lights. They are directly managed by the left and rear vehicle controllers using Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter (UART) over the Controller Area Network (CAN).

The lights controlled using UART do not maintain their own state but are directly driven by their respective vehicle controller.

Control systems used for lighting:

• Local interconnect network (LIN)
• UART over CAN
• High side drive (HSD)
• CAN between vehicle controllers

Headlamp Assembly

Cybertruck headlamps have an LED light source that is controlled by the headlamp control module (HCM) that is managed via local interconnect network (LIN) by two body controllers, VCLEFT for the left headlamp assembly and VCRIGHT for the right side. The left LIN bus is shared with the wiper controller. The headlight assembly consists of multiple LEDs that collectively form the low beam or high beam. The right side is shared between the amber turn light and a white signature light strip that is illuminated while the low beams are active and the turn light is off.

The headlamp assemblies are equipped with vertical leveling motors, used for beam alignment in the factory and in service.

Each headlamp assembly consists of:

• Low beam
• High beam
• Turn light
• Amber side reflector & marker light
• Signature light

Info

Low beams and Signature light will turn on if communication to their respective vehicle controller is lost and the lamp is powered.

Front Light Bar

The front light bar functions as daytime running lights (DRL) when headlights are off or as position light with reduced brightness when headlights are on.

The front light bar is controlled by VCRIGHT.

Tail Lamps

The body side rear lights consist of two sections to control tail light, brake light, and turn light functions. For normal tail light operation the upper block of the lamp is illuminated at a reduced brightness. When braking, both sections light up at full brightness.

Both sections are blinking at full brightness when the turn signal is active.

The left side is controlled by VCLEFT, and the right side is controlled by VCREAR.

Tail Gate Light

The tail gate light contains two functions: auxiliary tail and the Center High Mounted Stop Lamp (CHMSL) When stop is commanded on, the auxiliary tail lamp must be deactivated for regulatory reasons.

The tail gate light is controlled by VCREAR

Auxiliary Light Connections

The Cybertruck comes with two power connections that can be used for auxiliary lights; one in the Frunk and the other one is on the roof. Both light connections are Mid-Voltage and can be controlled via individually toggle switches on the UI.

Side Marker Lights & Reflectors:

Reflex reflectors are mounted right above the front and the rear bumper. They reflect light to make approaching drivers aware of the vehicle’s presence without the use of vehicle power.

There are 8 reflectors in total:

• Front headlamp assembly side facing left and right
• Rear bumper side facing
• Rear bumper rear facing
• Reflector behind the tailgate on each side. Visible when the tailgate is open

The front and rear side facing reflectors also house an amber / red marker light on both sides.

Bed Lights

The Cybertruck is equipped with lights on both sides of the bed. The lights can be controlled via a brightness slider and auto mode button on the main vehicle screen. If auto is selected, the bed light will turn on automatically when the vehicle is unlocked and either the Tonneau cover or Tailgate is opened.

Operation

Lighting Turn on Triggers

• UI Toggle
• AP request
• Approach lights
• Headlights after exit
• Sentry mode
• Mobile app flash

Brake Light Control

The brake lights are controlled by the left and rear body controller (VCLEFT / VCREAR) in response to direct input from the brake pedal switch and requests from other control modules, like the drive unit.

The brake lights shall be turned ON in any vehicle power state when any of the following conditions is true:

• Brake pedal press event detected
• The drive unit sends a signal that regenerative braking or Vehicle Hold is active
• Park brake unit sends a signal that park brake is active
• ESP sends a signal that stability control braking is active

Serviceability

The exterior lights on Cybertruck are all LED components. Individual LEDs are not serviceable.

Info

All light components can latch into a fault state and will only turn on again if the fault conditions have cleared and the controlling vehicle controller is reset (manually or during vehicle sleep) or power cycled.

Alerts indicating a fault with a specific light component:

Alert name	Component
VCLEFT_a474_leftHeadlampInternalError VCRIGHT_a475_rightHeadlampInternalError VCLEFT_a167_leftHCMMIA VCRIGHT_a166_rightHCMMIA VCLEFT_a566_leftFrontTurnLightFault VCRIGHT_a567_rightFrontTurnLightFault	Headlamp assembly
VCRIGHT_a477_frontLightBarInternalError	Front light bar
VCLEFT_a381_leftRearBodySideLightInternalError VCREAR_a383_rightRearBodySideLightInternalError VCLEFT_a380_leftRearBodySideLightMIA VCREAR_a382_rightRearBodySideLightMIA	Body side tail lights
VCREAR_a387_rearLightBarInternalError VCREAR_a386_rearLightBarMIA VCREAR_a389_chmslInternalError VCREAR_a388_chmslMIA	Tailgate light bar
VCREAR_a275_leftReverseLightFault VCREAR_a276_rightReverseLightFault VCREAR_a281_licensePlateLightFault	Reverse light & license plate light
VCREAR_a277_leftBedLightFault VCREAR_a277_leftBedLightFault	Bed light
VCREAR_a273_leftRearMarkerLightFault VCREAR_a274_rightRearMarkerLightFault	Side marker lights

Supplemental signals to check the health of smart light components:

Signals	Description
VC_leftHeadlampHealth	Indicates the health of the left headlamp.
VC_rightHeadlampHealth	Indicates the health of the right headlamp.
VC_frontLightBarHealth	Indicates the health of the front light bar.
VC_rearLightBarHealth	Indicates the health of the tailgate light bar.

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