BMW Gimbal-Mounted Headlight

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BMW is continuing work on advanced headlighting systems. The latest uses a gimbal design connected to the bike’s IMU to control movement. (BMW/)

BMW has been at the forefront of the development of cornering headlight systems for several years, and has already come up with several ways to maximize light performance even as bikes pitch and lean. The latest idea, revealed in a new patent application, takes its inspiration from the gimbals used for cameras and could open the door to even more advanced headlight tech.

BMW has already created lights that can move inside their housings to counter lean and pitch. The Headlight Pro adaptive cornering option on the R 1250 GS, for instance, allows the low-beam light to rotate up to 35 degrees in each direction to compensate for lean during corners, and corrects for pitch variations from changes in ride height and load. But the latest patent application takes the idea a step further forward by attaching the whole headlight unit on a three-axis gimbal that’s essentially identical to the systems that are widely available to keep cameras or smartphones steady while filming.

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The gimbal keeps the headlight in a level position as the bike leans and pitches. (BMW/)

The first axis allows the headlight to remain level as the bike leans over. The second compensates for pitch to keep it level front to rear, and the third lets the light physically turn toward the apex of a corner, illuminating exactly the bit of road you’re heading toward. The whole system is controlled by the same inertial measurement unit (IMU) that’s already at the heart of many motorcycles and used to monitor the machine’s pitch, lean, and yaw. Just like the gimbals used for cameras, the result should be able to keep the headlight eerily steady even as the rest of the bike moves around underneath it.

BMW has shifted away from the idea of physically moving the headlight during corners with the new R 1300 GS. On that machine, the optional Headlight Pro cornering light system uses a matrix of LEDs, turning individual lights on and off to point the beam in the right direction as the bike leans over. But there’s an additional element in the new patent application that explains the return to a moving headlight unit, there’s also a camera mounted inside the light.

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In this document you can see the unit’s camera, which might aid with rider-assist systems. (BMW/)

The patent document doesn’t reveal the exact purpose of the camera, only saying that it’s “designed to capture at least one area of the environment,” specifically the part that’s illuminated by the headlight. We can speculate that the camera might be related to additional rider-assist systems, like lane assist, brake assist, or adaptive cruise control, but perhaps the most likely reason for its presence would be to enable the sort of adaptive matrix headlights that are being adopted by some modern cars. These have only recently been made legal in the US and essentially allow you to leave the high-beam headlights on, even when there’s other traffic, by selectively shutting off parts of the beam to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic while keeping the rest of the road illuminated as brightly as possible.

Combining the gimbal, camera, and an LED matrix headlight into a single unit, as shown in the new BMW patent, opens the door to bringing that selective auto-dimming tech to motorcycles, and the self-contained gimbal design also makes it easier to mount the moving headlight onto an unfaired bike. Technology for technology’s sake or a genuine help when riding in the dark? We’ll only find out as and when the idea reaches a production bike.

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