The Iconic German marquee BMW has revealed a concept motorcycle helmet equipped with Heads-Up-Display (HUD) technology. The futuristic technology based motorcycle helmet is most likely to be launched in couple of next years. The HUD technology is inspired by the technology used in aeronautics and aircraft, where the helmets used by the fighter pilots have vital information on their helmet visors.
BMW has used the same technology and tried to find out a good balance between the field of vision and information shared right on the clear display screen mounted on the helmet of the rider. However, the challenge faced by the HUD technology must be to maintain a perfect balance between the safety of the rider and the procurement of information related to that safety. As the display screen can be proved as a distraction, it is placed on the right eye of the rider where the information such as motorcycle’s speed, RPM and other warnings related to the bike displayed.
The clear display mounted on the helmet can be programmed to project the vital information such as warnings, tyre pressure, oil and fuel capacity and almost every possible thing that you can find on the modern day LED display of a motorbike. Along with this information the system can also be programmed to display the other environmental data such as temperature, legal speed limits, traffic condition and any hindrance on the roadside.
The helmet is equipped with mini-computer on board along with speakers for audio inputs from the system. There is also provision for camera mount on both front and back side of the helmet. The rear camera would project the footage of the background to the display and would act as a live rear view mirror for the rider. All the electronics work on a pair of replaceable batteries and those are claimed to have operating time of five hour.BMW wishes to implement the same technology on other helmets without compromising the safety and riding comfort. However, it is to be seen how BMW would successfully implement the technology on other existing helmets making the technology more user friendly and accessible to the masses.
By: Farhan Kashif