GPS installed in your helmet

The public loves futuristic visions of technology, and the GPS Motorcycle Helmet really seems like a plausible innovation: http://www.visordown.com/product-news/hud-helmet-in-helmet-sat-nav/22900.html. The helmet is currently in the development stages, but completed, it’d project Satnav type directions onto your helmet’s visor.

Lisa Buckley, Marketing Manager at Carole Nash, commented: “Technology is becoming an unstoppable force across the globe. Over the past few years there have been a handful of exceptional developments in the biking space, key safety features have been unveiled, ensuring bikers are enjoying safer riding experiences, something which we are always keen to back.”

The idea would make your helmet a wholly interactive part of your riding experience, and the list of potentialities could really expand as the product takes hold. 

The idea mirrors innovations like Google Glass, which would bring practical net based applications into an inconspicuous set of specs which sit just above the eye. The glasses could perhaps be used as language translators in their most practical form, with Voice Recognition interpreting words onto the glass – travellers could find them invaluable. Other than that, Satnav and Personal Planning capabilities seem eminently achievable and these would appear to be the areas the motorcycle helmet would focus on.  

Satnav is a problem for bikers, and even now the most popular way of navigation is to pull over and use a map or a mobile phone. The interactive helmet would allow the user navigate on the move, as a car user does, but this might sound perilous to some riders. Questions such as ‘what would happen if the rider turned their head to check for traffic’ seem pertinent. Would the helmet try to reroute or go haywire? Or would it have built in functionality that would cater for these typical lifesaver gestures?

Incorporating a camera into the helmet would be a fantastic idea, possibly with rear view elements, although this could again prove overcomplicated. A video camera which simply records your journey and potentially chronicles accidents could revolutionise the motorbike insurance industry, making policies cheaper and attaining justice in collisions.

The key to keeping the helmet practical is not to overload the biker’s visual senses and keep directions minimal. Obviously a fully interactive media machine would affect concentration and defeat the helmet’s purpose.

It certainly seems like there’s scope for ideas as far as the helmet is concerned, maybe it could help coordinate ride-outs telling each member of the group of one another’s whereabouts? Perhaps it could have an emergency call-out facility on point of impact which would immediately direct the emergency services to your location? Maybe it would just be handy to play MP3s or as a form of social media, it could allow you to talk to fellow bikers in the vicinity.

The prime objective of any biker’s helmet is safety on collision, but surely such an all-encompassing piece of head gear could benefit from next generation technology.