Volo Lights was the brainchild of Vectolabs, LLC., a group of engineers who share a love of motorcycles and a desire to innovate.

Dissatisfied with other safety devices on the market, Volo Lights set out to patent the first perceptible deceleration indicator. They had the difficult task of convincing riders this is the safety product to have on their motorcycle. How’d they do it? They partnered with a world class designer to ensure the product delivered safety without compromising aesthetics.

Result? The world’s first brakeless deceleration indicator crafted with thoughtful design becomes part of your motorcycle, not just another accessory.

The Company

We're a few guys with a passion for motorcycles and innovation. At the same time, we love what we do and have a good time doing it. How could we not? The riding community is one built on two wheels, open roads, newfound friends, and lots of laughs.

For a quick glimpse of what that means to us, check out a quick montage of a Shark Tank Application video we submitted below:

Our Inspiration

The concept of Volo Lights was born on a beautiful riding day on a San Diego freeway. Faizal Ali was navigating a routine exit after downshifting to slow on his approach. Distracted and not perceiving the slowing motorcycle in front of him, the following driver would have collided with Faizal had he not made the split-second decision to ride into the breakdown lane. The screeching car tires and scent of burnt rubber reminded the rider how close he came to injury or perhaps death. While appreciating the driver’s face white with fear and a signaled apology, it was a small consolation to Faizal knowing how close he had come to a high speed collision. Finally home and hands still shaking, Faizal sat at his desk and began to sketch the first renditions of Volo Lights.

Soon after, Faizal sought opinions of friends and fellow motorcyclists who shared the same passion for riding. The prevailing sentiments were that traditional brake lights were not well-suited for motorcycles. Motorcyclists decelerate by engine braking either from releasing the throttle or shifting down. Due to a smaller vehicle size, it is difficult for drivers to perceive how fast motorcyclist are decelerating. The problem is further exacerbated with distracted driving on the rise.

Our philosophy is to help other drivers become better drivers by:

• Flashing a light at researched and proven optimum rates to capture inattentive eyes
• Increasing braking distance and reaction time by measuring actual vehicle behavior rather than relying solely on the rider’s application of brakes
• Variable flash rates provide perceptible information

We at Vectolabs believe safety products can be as beautifully crafted as the machines we cherish. If we’re able to prevent one injury in the motorcycling community, we’ve accomplished our mission!

Distracted Driving

Why we invented it

Vectolabs developed Volo Lights because the current brake light is flawed. Drivers drive better with improved information, and existing brake lights lack certain vital information.

Brake lights weren’t designed with motorcycles in mind

Today’s automotive brake were developed with four wheel vehicles in mind, and unfortunately motorcycles and cars do not decelerate the same way. Cars coast when throttle is released while motorcycles decelerate rapidly. In addition, drivers are less likely to engine brake in cars. Volo Lights addressed this by measuring actual deceleration rather than relying solely on a brake signal from the pedal or hand brake. Considering a one second delay in braking reaction time translates to a length of 6 cars when traveling at 60 mph, Volo Lights is able to alert drivers to slowing motorcycles much sooner.

Brake signals are not perceptible

Motorcycles are smaller and less conspicuous. Drivers perceive deceleration by the relative size of the object. As the object appears larger drivers sense that the distance is closing. Motorcycle deceleration is more difficult to discern because they are smaller than cars and because the driver is seeing past the motorcycle itself to the vehicle ahead. We addressed this by flashing light at different frequencies to provide perceptible deceleration information.

Brake lights don’t address distracted drivers

Visually distracting devices are overtaking the car’s interior. 18% of injury crashes in 2010 were reported as distraction affected crashes. (Distraction.gov) Volo Lights addressed this by flashing at optimum rates backed by various studies shown to be most effective for drawing inattentive eyes. Distracted Driving

Brake lights have room for improvement

Rear End Accidents are still the most common form of accidents.They account for almost 1/3 of all collisions in the U.S.