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Heads-Up Displays for Motorcyclists
An anonymous reader writes "An NYT article describes a new invention by a former racing driver to incorporate displays in the visors of helmets used by motorcyclists. A GPS receiver in the helmet is used to calculate position and speed of the wearer, and presumably in displaying route guidance. I'll bet some horrifying data could be gathered on the speed with which riders' heads impact the pavement after an accident."
As if riding a motorcycle wasn't dangerous enough, soon somebody's going to be watching a TV show in their helmet while riding around.
Only teenagers and lucky macho-idiots ride donorcycles.
Does it run Linux? And specifically, will it run Gentoo?;) Seriously though, wouldn't a HUD distract a motorcyclist? I know it probably would distract me if one were put in my truck...
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
I'll bet some horrifying data could be gathered on the speed with which riders' heads impact the pavement after an accident.
Umm... Wouldn't it be aproximately the same speed that the motercycle was going when it crashed?
You ride your bike! "Officer, I wasn't going over the speed limit, but I was reading a reply, and this guy linked me to the Goat man!!!"
Thanks for helping me test out my copy of IE. It so happens that instead of a gaping anus, I got a factual and unbiased slashdot article.
Keep up the good work!
That's why you should always wrap your fancy new GPS helmet in tin foil. Then the only one who can punish you for speeding is God herself, as she sends down a lighting bolt from the heavens. Bonus points at judgement time as well for wearing lighting attracting headwear.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
I'll bet some horrifying data could be gathered on the speed...
Or on the amount of heat generated by a pair of "ass brakes".
Mommy. What's a karma whore?
Instrument panels technically are HDD's. Heads Down Displays. I could see the benefit of a HUD on a vehicle, it would make it much easier to target objects (and people)with your remote controlled roof-mounted machine gun. Dont have a remote controlled roof-mounted machine gun? That's not my problem.
Viral software licensing is not freedom, it is in fact GNU/Socialism.
This company needs to use something other than GPS to determine the speed of the bike. GPS's method is to collect a location point every few tenths of a second, then add the distance between each of the last twenty points or so and divide by total time. This means that your "speed" is an approximation at best (almost always to low because or curves in the road) and doesn't show double-zero until a few seconds after you've stopped.
I did a fleet management project using GPS-able PDAs in trucks. We had to kill the big spedometer in our interface because the GPS delay caused it to fuck with peoples' heads.
If they're serious about this, they need to either hang a Hall effect sensor on the output shaft of the engine, or tap into the bike's speed sensor line if it has an engine-control processor and then relay that info to the helmet with bluetooth or something. Otherwise it just won't work.
This tagline is umop apisdn.
If the HUD showed:
* speed
* trip distance
* number of FRAGS
* ammo remaining
That would be sweet.
X-Ray vision would be neat during confrontations with a rough/tough bikey gang member in a bar. You can see if they have a knife or a gun. Although you would look like a dag wearing a helmet in a bar - you could choose your fights carefully and live.
If I could get the job of writing this software for this thing it would be the sweetest deal ever. The software would be sooo easy:
while(true) {
if( isGoldWing() ) {
print "Speed: Too slow";
} else {
print "Speed: TOO FAST!");
}
if( rider.age() < 23 ) {
print "Reminder: You suck for wearing a tank top, shorts and sandals.";
} else if( rider.age() > 50 ) {
print "Reminder: You bought a Harley for the vibration, there are cheaper and more portable alternatives";
}
if( speed < mph(60) ) {
waste_of_bike++;
}
excitement_factor += random() + radar(CONST_SUV, 42.0);
if( stoppie_detected() ) {
dumpRider( "You cocky fool" );
}
}
Not all of us who own 'Wings need or want training wheels or something to tell us where we've been. At some point I might get a GPS unit just so I have a log of the whole trip - but getting real-time updates on my retina would put me in the ditch. I can't conceive of actually wanting/needing such a system.
Been there, done that, paid for the T-shirt
and didn't get it
Gauges, bah! - back in my day sonny we just listened to the hum of the engine and we knew approximately how fast we were going - some drivers increased the accuracy by having an experienced Harley Ho on the back telling the driver their exact speed - we also cooked our grub on the exhaust pipe!
and...we liked it.
PS. I'll bet your one of those sissy geeks that actually use the temperature gauge on your mobo instead of using the old finger lick test...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
My bike suit (full protection, no less) has the words "ORGAN DONOR AT WORK" in reflective red all across the back.
If I'm gonna die, might as well die doing something I love. Most people aren't that lucky.
Yeah but didn't Australia have a problem with motorcycle gangs in the 80's.
I can't remember the names of the gangs, but Mel Gibson seems to come to mind...:-)
does it work during daylight hours too ?
i have some fat LEDS mounted in the dash of my vw bus that reflect off the 'screen to remind me that my turn signals are on (the self cancel no longer works as i've swapped the steering wheel) but it doesn't work very well in daylight.
Fry: heh, Yakov Smirnoff said it
Leela: No he didn't.
If you're on a motorcycle, everyone in a car is trying to kill you.
In my experience, the best way to avoid this is to drive faster than everyone else. Pass them quickly, leave them in the rearview.
-
"Vengeance is fine," sayeth the Lord.
Imagine you can pull up your date file an impress her with all the stuff you remember about her. Also you can have that poem there for you to recite that will rock.
Greetings - I am from the future. I brought with me a picture of you on your first date using this technology. Unfortunately you can see that your date has left the table.
...Since they never wear helmets (at least here in Texas where there's no helmet law), then this is useless to them. They'll have to wait until this is shrunk into a pair of cool name brand sun glasses. Or perhaps made of flexible circuits and builtinto a n American flag patterned bandana.