The interest in presenting the information on the instrument panel in the easiest and most visual way possible originated in the aeronautical industry and soon passed to the automotive industry. It was, obviously, that the driver could have the essential data to continue driving without having to take his eyes off the road. With this, in addition, visual fatigue was reduced because the eye needed less effort to adapt to reading the information. The system was called “HUD”, an acronym for Head Up Display (something like “frontal data presenter”).
Of course, both in the case of airplanes and cars, there was a common element -the windshield- capable of acting as a support for the reflected signal and showing it to the driver/pilot. But on motorcycles there was no such windshield and that was the main problem that the industry found when it came to being interested in HUD systems for motorcyclists, so there was only one way to propose the solution and that was for the HUD to act directly or on a driver’s goggle or helmet visor.
And these have been, for the moment, the paths chosen for the development of an accessory that is as attractive as it is still anecdotal in the motorcycle world. However, and given the increasing importance of interconnectivity with the Smartphone -to have GPS maps or to know who is calling us-, everything seems to indicate that the HUD will be the next great “gadget”. to hit the market forcefully.
Despite not being -as we say- still too popular, the truth is that perfectly operational HUD systems can already be found on the market. In the two cases that we show below, these are kits that adapt to any helmet and are assembled in a few minutes.
The French people at Eyelights were among the first to offer a product developed by Romain Duflot, a Dassault engineer specializing in combat fighters. As stated on the website of this company located in Labege, near Toulouse, its data presenter -based on an OLED mini-screen- gains a reaction time of 4 seconds in the event of an eventuality compared to normal observation.
Also the Germans from Tilsberk offer a similar HUD. In reality, they are all based on the same principle, D-Vision, developed by engineer Lutz Berger, who regularly works for brands such as Audi, Volkswagen and BMW and specializes in autonomous emergency call systems.
Its most basic “display” is priced at 399 euros. The battery charge lasts 12 hours and displays all important information at a virtual distance of 10 m.
The Shoei Opticson is the first helmet model from the prestigious Japanese house that already includes a factory-integrated “front data display”. However, for now it is only available in Japan and at a fairly high price, since -obviously- it includes the helmet, a high-end model from Shoei, so we can be talking about almost 1,000 euros.
A few weeks ago BMW officially presented the “ConnectedRide Smartglasses”, the first HUD glasses on the market for motorcyclists. Exactly as in the previous cases, the data -speed, GPS instructions and gear selection- are reflected in the glass of the glasses without interfering with the correct visualization of the road. The optical projection module is located above the right lens.
In each arm of the glasses there is a small battery that powers the system, with a duration of 10 hours. The “ConnectedRide Smartglasses” are automatically synchronized with the mobile phone and the BMW Motorrad application and its price is 690 euros.
The BMW glasses have been developed jointly with the Israeli company Everysight -a specialist in the manufacture of smartglasses that has also worked for the armed forces of their country and also has a version for cyclists- and they come in sizes M and L, with four nose pad thicknesses and two sets of lenses; some transparent and others with tinted glass. In both cases they have a light sensor that prevents glare.
The company explains that they can also be used by those who wear glasses to correct vision defects since they can be treated with up to 4.5 diopters. And not only that; Work is already underway so that the next generation of “smarglasses” is even capable of warning the driver when there is a risk present on the road.
