French company EyeLights already makes head-up display units for cars and is now planning to move into motorcycles with a revolutionary EyeRide connection system for large group intercom.
Instead of using Bluetooth to connect, it uses a data connection to a Discord app server.
While EyeRide promises virtually unlimited group chats with others on the same network including non-riders, it relies on an internet connection and will use up your phone data.
Eyeride HUD screen
Otherwise, EyeRide is like a standard Bluetooth intercom that supplies music, phone calls and GPS navigation prompts using Garmin HERE maps, but also has a small HUD screen for important information as in this video.
It is slightly transparent and on the right side, which may be fine in a country where you drive on the right.
And unfortunately, EyeLights tell us the screen cannot be moved to the left for riding in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and other left-side countries.
Update 4 March 2020: The company has just launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to get the product off the ground. Click here for more details.
We warn potential supporters of Kickstarter crowd-funding campaigns that they do not issue a refund. Backers will have to contact the campaigner for a refund, put a stop to their payment or cancel their credit card.
Given EyeLights already produce a car HUD system, they may be a little more secure than a normal speculative start-up.
HUD concerns
I haven’t used a HUD system yet in a helmet and can’t verify if it is a distraction or allows you to safely keep your eyes on the road.
However, I have driven several cars with HUD systems on the windscreen and found them extremely useful, safe and non-distracting.
Unfortunately, few of these aftermarket HUD systems or integrated HUD helmets have made it to market.
Infamously, Skully HUD helmets raised a record amount through crowd-funding then fraudulently spent it on fast cars and fast women and went bankrupt.
It was later bought and resurrected as the Skully Fenix AR, but we haven’t seen them here yet.
Skully Fenix ARYet, almost every month new HUD systems and helmets are announced.
The latest smart helmets, unveiled at the recent Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, are one from Chinese cycling helmet company Livall and the Tali Connected from a French startup
Tali Connected and Livall HUD helmetsMeanwhile, the first aftermarket HUD company, NuViz, recently closed down, leaving owners stranded with no GPS function as their map licence expired, according to RideApart.
Nuviz HUD unitLike all new technology, there will be bugs and it seems HUD has had more than its fair share over the past few years.
That doesn’t mean HUD technology isn’t coming.