BMW has been at the forefront of developing cornering headlight systems for several years and has already come up with several ways to maximize light performance, even when bikes lean. The latest idea, revealed in a new patent application, is inspired by the gimbal systems used in cameras and could open the door to even more advanced headlight technology.
BMW has already created headlights that can move within their housings to counter tilt and sway. The cornering-adaptive Headlight Pro option on the R 1250 GS, for example, allows the low beam to rotate up to 35 degrees in each direction to compensate for tilt during cornering and corrects for variations in tilt resulting from changes in ride height and load. But the latest patent application takes the idea a step further, linking the entire headlight unit to a three-axis gimbal that is essentially identical to the systems that are widely available to keep cameras or smartphones steady during filming.
The first axis allows the headlight to remain level when the bike tilts. The second compensates for the tilt to keep it level from front to back, and the third allows the light to physically rotate towards the apex of a bend, illuminating exactly the part of the road you’re heading for. The whole system is controlled by the same inertial measurement unit (IMU) that is already at the heart of many motorcycles and which is used to monitor the machine’s tilt, sway and rotation. Just like the gimbals used for the cameras, the result should be able to keep the headlight eerily stable, even when the rest of the bike moves beneath it.
BMW has moved away from the idea of physically moving the headlight during cornering with the new R 1300 GS. On this machine, the optional Headlight Pro cornering light system uses a matrix of LEDs, switching individual lights on and off to point the beam in the right direction when the bike leans. But there’s an additional element in the new patent application that explains the return to a mobile headlight unit: there’s also a camera mounted inside the light.