If you are a bike enthusiast, then you will definitely drool over the 1400 GTR from Kawasaki. The bike is already a hi-tech machine, hi-tech is just scaling it down, more appropriate would be that, it is the most technologically advanced bike on this planet.

Kawasaki's 1400 GTR is already a high tech smorgasbord with variable valve timing, keyless ignition and tyre pressure sensors but the next-generation GTR will wrest outright motorcycle technology leadership from BMW, Honda and Yamaha. Heading the technological onslaught comes a system that until now has been in the preserve of only the world's most expensive cars; night vision.

Kawasaki has developed its own infra-red night vision technology, giving riders a view beyond the range of the bike's conventional headlights, and is racing to get it ready for use on production bikes with few or no changes to the basic design of the bikes themselves – allowing it to be fitted as an option or even as an aftermarket upgrade. And detailed drawings of the design clearly reveal that the GTR is being used as the guinea pig for Kawasaki's night vision, in line with its role as the firm's technology leader.

So, how does it work? The answer lies in a pair of infra-red cameras mounted behind clear lenses set into the front of the bike's rear-view mirrors. Picking out images even in pitch darkness, these work together like a pair of eyes to give a stereoscopic view to the bike's on-board computer – allowing it to judge how far away objects are and alert the rider if there's anything in his path that's beyond the reach of the conventional headlights.

One of the cameras also provides an image to be displayed on an LCD screen set into the bike's instrument panel.

It might sound like sci-fi, but similar systems are already being offered in high-end cars like the most expensive Mercedes and BMW machines, with Kawasaki's system being close in concept to BMW's design. The camera's used by Kawasaki are long-wave “far infra-red” cameras, which pick up their images based on heat rather than light, so the system is ideal for highlighting people or animals in the road but can't identify objects that are no hotter than the background. Alternatives like the Mercedes system, use short-wave “near infra-red” technology working like military systems by combining an invisible infra-red light with an infra-red camera, giving the green-tinged view that we've all come to associate with night-vision thanks to Hollywood depictions of such systems and showing the entire scene ahead rather than only revealing heat sources.

Using far infra-red makes sense on a bike, where space is at a premium, as it needs no extra lights – the cameras alone can pick up heat 300 meters or more ahead of the bike, well beyond the range of even high-beam headlights.