BMW shows off their HUD helmet concept

BMW-HUD-concept-crash-helmet
BMW Motorrad Heads up Display prototype
BMW HUD helmets front view
Hopefully the finished helmet won’t be massive like this one!

It very much looks like HUDs (Heads up Displays) are beginning to gather steam in 2016.

First there was the Skully AR1 which is scheduled to ship in summer ’16. And now BMW Motorrad has shown its first HUD helmet prototype off.

BMWs version seems a little less ambitious than Skully’s at first glance. It has all the usual features we’d expect to be included, the main one being the display glass sitting in front of the rider’s right eye. As you can see by the mockup display below, that shows info such as speed, revs, gear etc. plus there;s the promise of other goodies too including sat nav guidance and accident notifications.

But the interesting thing about BMWs system, which could well give it an advantage in the marketplace, is the fact because they’re being developed effectively in-house, that could potentially give their system access to all the tech installed on-board on BMW machines. Meaning they could feasibly tap into all the other data being churned out by the onboard ECU and computers including fuel levels, tyre pressures, engine modes and so on. That’s data third party competitors may struggle to gain access to, leaving their systems looking a little weak.

MCE-insurance-big-ed
And here’s one they prepared earlier!

Obviously, it’s debatable how much information the rider needs – or wants – before it becomes too much of a distraction. And I guess that’s part of the prototyping and testing process; to find that happy medium.

In the meantime it’ll be interesting to see how these techs develop and at what price point they start to hit the market – and indeed to see how many people buy them given that much of the attraction of motorcycling is to get away from distractions and just focus on the road and scenery.

We’ll keep you updated here.

BMW HUD display mockup
Mockup of how the HUD display might look.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here