Another release by BMW Motorrad at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the German company says it is working on a motorcycle helmet with an integrated heads-up display (HUD), thus responding to the call for more advanced helmet technology.
BMW already has this technology in its automotive wings, using an optional HUD system that is projected onto the interior of a vehicles windshield.
Now BMW seems to be taking a page from other players in the helmet space, and is looking to bring HUD technology to its motorcycle offerings with the help of California-based company DigiLens.
From BMW Motorrad and Digilens, we know that the HUD helmet concept uses waveguide optics to holographically project the information onto the lens in front of the rider’s eye.
Systems like this are very compact, and DigiLink says that the HUD eyepiece allows for the rider to still wear glasses. BMW proposes a bevy of uses for the heads-up display, from showing the rider’s speed, motorcycle status, route information, and other information as vehicle-to-vehicle communications begins to gain traction.
In addition to the HUD system, BMW Motorrad says that its helmet will include forward and rearward cameras, as well as built-in speakers, the functions of which could be controlled from the handlebars of the motorcycle.
It’s not clear when BMW will have its helmet available to consumers (BMW’s press release says in a few years), though the technology seems to be proven and ready to go. However, DigiLink has said that it plans to make its HUD technology available to other helmet manufacturers.
Logically, anyone interested in this sort of helmet technology should want to know who is making the helmet shell for BMW’s HUD helmet, and what the cost will be once the unit is on the market. Stay tuned.
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