
Motorbike helmet with navigation - devy
http://livemap.info/
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mikestew
This would great and worth consideration if helmets weren't disposable items.
Obviously a crash will cause a write-off (and good luck convincing insurance
your helmet was $2000). But helmets get stinky, they get dropped, they get
exposed to UV. A five year replacement cycle is recommended by the Snell
Foundation. [1] Okay, so $400/year; some folks will part with that. You'll cry
real tears if you drop it hard enough to crack that carbon fiber shell.

Then there's fit. Some people have a Shoei head, some an Arai head (helmet
brands). For $2000, that sucker better not cause hot spots on my noggin.

Replacement shields? Shields are consumables, IMO. And I want a dark one for
sunny days, a light one for when I'm out after dark. I want a new one when the
original gets scratched up.

I like the idea, but a cool HUD is just one thing to consider when buying a
helmet, and not high on my personal list if I'm wearing the thing up to twelve
hours a day.

[1]
[http://www.smf.org/helmetfaq#aWhyReplace](http://www.smf.org/helmetfaq#aWhyReplace)

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rodgerd
For me the biggest concern I had when I looked at this was to what degree it
could compromise the safety characteristics of the helmet, in particular:

1/ Anything that reduces the amount of compression available from the internal
foam will significantly reduce the main benefit of a helmet in reducing brain
damage.

2/ Anything that increases weight will aggrivate the main drawback of a helmet
(giving your head more leverage to wrench your spine in an accident).

3/ Similarly any tethering or external modules are going to risk wrenching
your neck in the event of an off.

It looks incredibly cool but I can't help but think it compromises most of the
safety value I wear a helmet for in the first place.

~~~
flatfilefan
Good points. I guess the only thing new to a helmet industry is the projector.
Everything else can be found in high-tech helmets already. Check the Schuberth
C2 with bluetooth inlay. I wonder if the projector can even be placed outside
the protective hull and shine in through a hole? That will mitigate the point
1.

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KyleBrandt
Safety gear is great and I wear a lot of it when I ride, but on a motorcycle
you really depend on _avoiding_ accidents -- The gear only helps so much
compared to a car. It is sort of like picking the fast and nimble vehicle in a
videogame instead of the tank -- except you actually die or get hurt.

Therefore distractions are perhaps the biggest safety concern (in particular
here in south Florida, everyone is out to get me :-) ). I could see the view
that maybe not worrying about navigating is actually less of distraction, but
for me I don't think that would be the case. Every second I would spend
looking at the HUD is a second I'm not:

    
    
      * Looking for someone making a left hand turn right in front me
      * Noticing who is texting while driving
      * Noticing stuff on the road that could result in a loss of traction
      * Watching Cars with stuff that might fall off in front of me
      * Observing people that look like they might run a light
      * Focusing on good control of the bike
      * Planning Escape Routes
      * etc....
    

In short, accident avoidance in the long run takes constant focus (and
unfortunately, a bit of luck too).

~~~
r00fus
In your opinion, would a voice-based contextually aware device be a big enough
distraction/safety reduction to offset it's value?

~~~
001sky
This is also pretty easy to do today with an ear-piece and a Garmin.

Heads up is only really helful for the edge-case that is not apparent. Ie, it
helps you pre-visualize something. It might be something that is like a blind-
corner + turn. Or it might be a confusing intersection (5-way). Or a left hand
exit, et. This would help you set-up the right way ahead of time. Rather than
just telling you XYZ at the last minutre.

You need a time/distance dynamic lead-time tho, and it is this that current
GPS systems suck at. The hard part is just getting the software right. It's a
distraction if its not at the right-place + right time.

~~~
flatfilefan
For example TomTom Rider does a good job of doing exactly that - it shows you
the lines mapping for exits etc. I have it hooked up over bluetooth too. Works
most of the time. Worked well for me in US and Europe.

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aray
As a rider, I'm worried about what happens to the electronics, projector (+
lens/ bulb), reflectors, and screen in case of an accident. If the helmet
deforms, will those shatter, possibly scattering shards around while my head
is bouncing in there?

I would absolutely _love_ this, but I'd wait to see what the actual crash
tests look like before risking my head to one.

Edit: thinking about this more, I'm even more worried trusting my safety to a
company that has never even made a helmet before. I'd be much more confident
if they had approached older helmet manufacturers and worked in conjunction to
get these new features into something thats confidently safe.

The focus on battery life, charging, UI and menu systems also makes me wary --
there's almost nothing about safety in the presentation, except for the
material ('carbon fiber'), and nothing at all on crash testing.

I would not risk my head to this.

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yason
This sounds like a solution to a problem that doesn't exist in reality.

You basically only ever actually need _navigation_ when driving/riding in a
foreign city that you don't know yet. If you're on a cycle, using headphones
to receive audible instructions should suffice (unless you spend most of your
days riding foreign cities).

If you know the city instead, you generally know its quirks better than any
navigator.

If you're travelling on highways you can just take a look at the map on your
phone and preplan the few next turns in advance. When on a cycle, it's easy to
just pull over and check where you are and whether that little road will take
you in and out of some location.

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ChuckMcM
I would worry about this obscuring vision at a bad time.

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jameshart
This concern does not seem to have deterred air forces from putting head-up-
displays in front of pilots. The primary goal of a HUD in a cockpit is to keep
you from needing to go head-down and lose any chance of seeing something
important happening outside the cockpit. Better to have something small
momentarily obscured than have you looking away completely. That said, I'm not
sure motorcyclists have a constant need to perform instrument scans that take
them head-down in the first place. I'd be wary of the urge to put too much
information up on the display just because it looks cool, or because you
can...

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loup-vaillant
Air force pilots are trained to use a HUD. Motorcycle pilots aren't. A HUD is
probably ideal if you are used to it, but I fear the first hours.

Ideally, this should be tested.

~~~
dcesiel
This technology has been available in Cadillacs for years. Go drive an ATS if
you want to see it in action. Not distracting at all.

ATS HUD:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpXYwoZ6zWw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpXYwoZ6zWw)

For a while they even had a radar overlay so you could see deer in the road on
your HUD before your eyes could in the dark.

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jeroen
Looks like the Cadillac HUD is fairly low on the windshield:

[http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/car%20tech/Head...](http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/car%20tech/Head%20up%20Display/HUD%2022-580-90.jpg)

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flatfilefan
I ride motorbike for about a year now. In the beginning having a navigation
hints voice over bluetooth was the only way. Now when I'm confident driving I
can just use the navi mounted on the handlebar. Just have to look at it now
and then. So I think all time on navigation on the visor is a bit too much. If
they would find a way of keeping just an arrow most of the time and only show
a map when needed ...

~~~
draven
Same here, I just use a map in my tank bag, and check the directions on google
maps beforehand (that includes looking at some potentially problematic
intersections on street view, which is incredibely helpful.) Also here in
France the signs on the streets are usually really good.

And I didn't choose to ride a motorbike over driving a car to be in a hurry, I
enjoy it a lot more and taking my time is not a problem.

~~~
flatfilefan
Especially in a new country or a city this kind of a care-free navigation is a
nice feature. You really have to concentrate on what happens around you in a
new city. People have distinct driving styles in between cities and countries
and one just can not foresee what will happen next second. Also the street
marks are different - you really need to grok the new style.

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Zhenya
It's not SNELL certified, most serious riders won't consider it.

~~~
mikestew
Snell isn't the end-all of helmet certifications, and I consider it a myth
that Snell is the best certification. I'd post a link to the Motorcycle
Consumer News article on the topic if I knew where to begin to find it. It was
incredibly in-depth article from about five or six years ago that concluded
that no certification is right for all conditions, and DOT-only is arguably
just fine. There are crashes where you'll be wishing the helmet were Snell-
certified, and some where you'll come out better with DOT.

~~~
deelowe
It's not either or. Most helmets are both DOT and SNELL certified(at least the
good ones are).

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lyndonh
Projectors tend to put out a lot of heat. I would worry that my head would get
hot wearing it. I would also be concerned about the weight.

While HUDs are cool; there is a reason that most major automobile
manufacturers haven't put them in a car yet and the reason is not to do with
new technology because HUDs have been around for a long time. The reason is
that anything that goes between you and the windshield will obstruct your
view. Any coating that is required to reflect the light from the projector to
your eyes will interfere with light from the road even with the projector
turned off. You have one fatal crash wearing this helmet and the insurance
companies will make mincemeat out of this company. I'm guessing that $2000
doesn't include much for the company to put towards an insurance premium.

Also, no integrated cameras ? Rear facing camera ?

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SirZed
I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice the outstanding similarities between
the project's site and a real, legitimate Indiegogo campaign. But after a
brief search I can't find any mentions of Indiegogo, just the hotlinked
favicon. Even the perks themselves aren't clickable (nitpick mode: they are
clickable but don't lead anywhere).

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001sky
The key question here is the ergonomics. It takes time to adjust you focus
near-far and you can't just stick a GPS on your shield and make it work. It is
distracting and dangerous. Cockpit HUDs have different spatial relationships
with your eyes.

~~~
ismarc
HUDs use light focused at infinity so the point of focus for your eyes doesn't
change when looking at the display (it "hovers" mid-air). Holographic sites,
HUDs, Google Glass all use the same principle, with varying ways of getting
the light onto your eye (curved mirror that changes the focal point of the
light properly that reflects on a piece of glass, a piece of glass curved to
focus the light properly when it's projected on it and a lens on the projector
to focus the light properly are the 3 primary approaches).

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delinka
Has anyone ever addressed focal distance? Constantly refocusing my eyes from
road distance to display distance is going to cause fatigue much sooner in
addition to decreased safety due to lack of attention on the road.

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infinotize
At the cost involved it might be worth retro-fitting a Google Glass instead of
a proprietary helmet and unproven navigation system (motorcyclists are picky
about helmets).

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Zhenya
Glass isn't a HUD.

~~~
infinotize
Yes it is, it's a Display that allows you to keep your Head Up, and on the
road in this case of the motorcycle.

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Zhenya
"A head-up display or heads-up display—also known as a HUD—is any transparent
display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their
usual viewpoints."

With glass you have to look UP and the screen is almost never on.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-
up_display](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display)

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presty
Saw their booth at TC Disrupt. Looked pretty cool. Wanted to try, but no one
was available.

~~~
kzahel
They were at San Francisco Motorcycle Club's general meeting last Thursday.
They were giving people demos. I don't get it, really. When I ride, I like lo-
tech :-)

~~~
flatfilefan
There is space for antiquity and for nice new precision tools. Lo-tech was
high-tech at some point of time too.

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21422sedu
still searching for a "pedestrians-safety-range-extender" for my kids,
something about in a 100feet range slowing the car to step speed...

~~~
flatfilefan
may be you should start looking for a time accelerater instead? :-)

