One of the most frustrating things about riding motorcycles is basically the lack of headlight power we have compared to cars. Modern four-wheeled vehicles have the power of the sun comparatively, as two is always better than one. And with today’s headlight technology, it’s made motorcycle headlights looks almost antique in their ability to pierce the inky veil of night.
Some manufacturers, however, have begun to address this issue and it’s only taken until the year of our dark lord 2025. That advancement, however, should be celebrated as these companies are making motorcycles safer for you and I to ride at night, which is one of the more dangerous times to ride outside of through a monsoon.
One such manufacturer is Yamaha, which is bringing out a new Tracer 9 GT+ touring motorcycle with an adaptive LED Matrix headlight design that looks to be borrowed from the good folks at Volkswagen Group, and really defeats two birds with one headlight.
Photo by: Yamaha
Now, for those unfamiliar with the Matrix technology, it’s part of a complicated headlight system that has an integrated sensor that detects lighting conditions—like a normal adaptive and automatic headlight—but also works in conjunction with other sensors that detect oncoming cars or dark spots on the road as to adjust where the multiple LEDs shine their lumenosity toward.
Think of it as a self-adjusting flashlight that can move itself to better illuminate a road’s surface or change its direction as to not blind oncoming traffic, the latter of which has become an issue with more and more advanced—read brighter than a supernova—headlights being added to cars and trucks. The latter of which is called “dazzling” and you’ve likely experienced it while driving at night and a newer LED headlight-equipped car drives toward you in the opposite direction.
According to Yamaha, “Comprising of a matrix of multiple low and high beam LEDs linked to a camera which is integrated into the upper part of the headlamp assembly, the technology automatically detects surrounding traffic, natural light sources and weather conditions. Taking this information on board, it dynamically adjusts brightness and light distribution to provide optimal illumination at all times. The system increases rider confidence while riding at night, distributing the light in such a way that it tries to ensure other road users are not dazzled, while adjusting the illuminated area for the rider. The Matrix LED headlight array works with the six-axis IMU to adjust the light beam when a lean angle of seven degrees or more is detected, creating a more comfortable riding experience.”
But doing that wasn’t just asking Volkswagen to borrow the brand’s Matrix headlight technology from Audi.
Speaking to Motorcycle News, a Yamaha spokesperson said, “It was almost silly, but we had to test lots, across Europe and in Japan. It was many miles, and we started looking at this system in something like 2019 or 2020. After that, we started the mass production development, but it wasn’t easy. The technology is from the automobile sector, but the automobile doesn’t lean and is already flat, with no lean or pitch. A motorcycle always leans, so we had to completely remake the system to suit the motorcycle.”
As for whether the technology will end up here in the US, we’re unsure as while RideApart reached out to Yamaha for comment, we did not receive a confirmation one way or the other at the time of publication. We’ll update this story if and when that occurs, but seeing companies like Yamaha build out better headlights makes me hopeful for the future, as the current motorcycle headlight technology feel ancient, almost Cretaceous in nature, and these would go a long way into fixing that.
