Aprilia has just made a couple of hi-tech leaps into the future where the bike talks to your helmet and phone.
The Italian motorcycle company has announced a collaboration with American helmet company Skully who are releasing the world’s first commercially available helmet with head-up display and has developed Aprilia Multimedia Platform (aMP) which connects the bike to your iPhone or Android phone.
The partnership with Skully will help develop new forms of rider-vehicle interaction for V4-MP, Piaggio Group’s multimedia platform found on the Aprilia RSV4 and Tuono 1100. This will provide bike information to the Skully helmet visor screen so riders won’t have to take their eyes off the road.
That’s off in the future, but right now you can add aMP to your Aprilia Caponord with a $341 retrofit.
The aMP app is available through iTunes and talks to the aMP platform fitted to your bike.
It transforms the rider’s phone into a virtual, real time, multifunction on-board computer allowing the rider to choose between speedometer, tachometer, engine power and torque, instant and average fuel consumption, suggested gear selection, longitudinal acceleration along with an extended trip computer.
Aprilia Caponord RallyWith the help of gyroscopes and vehicle telemetry, the application is also able to calculate the rider’s lean angles.
The aMP application will flash to indicate the intervention of Aprilia Traction Control (aTC) and the rider can also set a shift light at their favourite revs. The aMP application will also store the journey data so that the rider can analyse their trip and their riding form.
However, riders should be careful as the information may incriminate them should the police or your insurance company gain access.
The app also notifies the rider of low fuel and the GPS function identifies the nearest fuel stations and even the nearest Aprilia dealer. It also records the position of the motorcycle when the engine is turned off in case you forget where you parked it.
Together with the Skully helmet, this could really give the rider total control … or information overload!