diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.cc b/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.cc
index 4bb402dc4..60a8e28cd 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.cc
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ GLWindow::GLWindow(QWidget *parent) : QOpenGLWidget(parent) {
   timer = new QTimer(this);
   QObject::connect(timer, SIGNAL(timeout()), this, SLOT(timerUpdate()));
 
+  int result = read_param(&brightness_b, "BRIGHTNESS_B", true);
+  result += read_param(&brightness_m, "BRIGHTNESS_M", true);
+  if(result != 0) {
+    brightness_b = 0.0;
+    brightness_m = 5.0;
+  }
+  smooth_brightness = 512;
 }
 
 GLWindow::~GLWindow() {
@@ -82,6 +89,16 @@ void GLWindow::initializeGL() {
 }
 
 void GLWindow::timerUpdate(){
+  // Update brightness
+  float clipped_brightness = std::min(1023.0f, (ui_state->light_sensor*brightness_m) + brightness_b);
+  smooth_brightness = clipped_brightness * 0.01f + smooth_brightness * 0.99f;
+
+  std::ofstream brightness_control("/sys/class/backlight/panel0-backlight/brightness");
+  if (brightness_control.is_open()){
+    brightness_control << int(smooth_brightness) << "\n";
+    brightness_control.close();
+  }
+
   ui_update(ui_state);
 
 #ifdef QCOM2
diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.hpp b/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.hpp
index df0f68876..cc525a6e0 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.hpp
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/qt/window.hpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <QWidget>
 #include <QTimer>
+#include <QLabel>
 #include <QGuiApplication>
 #include <QOpenGLWidget>
 #include <QOpenGLFunctions>
@@ -54,6 +55,10 @@ private:
   QtSound sound;
 
   bool onroad = true;
+  QLabel * label = NULL;
+  float brightness_b = 0;
+  float brightness_m = 0;
+  float smooth_brightness = 0;
 
 public slots:
   void timerUpdate();
diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/ui.cc b/selfdrive/ui/ui.cc
index 7e03ea13a..8ca5d0170 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/ui.cc
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/ui.cc
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ int write_param_float(float param, const char* param_name, bool persistent_param
 
 void ui_init(UIState *s) {
   s->sm = new SubMaster({"model", "controlsState", "uiLayoutState", "liveCalibration", "radarState", "thermal",
-                         "health", "carParams", "ubloxGnss", "driverState", "dMonitoringState"});
+                         "health", "carParams", "ubloxGnss", "driverState", "dMonitoringState", "sensorEvents"});
 
   s->started = false;
   s->status = STATUS_OFFROAD;
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ void update_sockets(UIState *s) {
   UIScene &scene = s->scene;
   SubMaster &sm = *(s->sm);
 
-  // poll sockets
   if (sm.update(0) == 0){
     return;
   }
@@ -219,6 +218,16 @@ void update_sockets(UIState *s) {
     scene.frontview = false;
   }
 
+#ifdef QCOM2 // TODO: use this for QCOM too
+  if (sm.updated("sensorEvents")) {
+    for (auto sensor : sm["sensorEvents"].getSensorEvents()) {
+      if (sensor.which() == cereal::SensorEventData::LIGHT) {
+        s->light_sensor = sensor.getLight();
+      }
+    }
+  }
+#endif
+
   s->started = scene.thermal.getStarted() || scene.frontview;
 }