Smart helmet calls for help after crash

Emergency call systems are coming to motorcycles and helmets with a French company the latest to release a helmet that calls for help if you crash.

The Kosmos Smart Helmet has sensors which detect a crash and then uses your paired phone and a proprietary app to contact emergency services.

However, just in case you’ve only had a small fall or dropped your helmet, the system first contacts the rider to check.

If the rider doesn’t respond to cancel within a certain time, the emergency call is placed and provides details on the riders location as well as relevant health information.

It’s not the first helmet with this technology.

Help helmets

Several other helmets that call for help after a crash are also being developed.

They include the Encephalon (Brain) from Nand Logic in the USA, the Indian-made Quin and even a Thai Helpmet. And in December, US college student Ty Uehara won $US2000 to develop his ConTekt helmet that will call emergency (911) if you have been in a crash.

Call bikes

These emergency call systems have been available in cars for some time and are now mandated throughout Europe with motorcycles and possibly helmets expected to be included in the future.

It also may not be long before it is mandated in Australia after an Austroads report last year found that motorcycles should be fitted with the automatic crash call technology to reduce emergency response times which are more lethal in our rural and remote areas.

It points out that motorcyclist deaths have remained stable in major cities over the past decade, but increased in regional and remote Australia by up to almost 50% in recent years.

BMW Motorrad was the first motorcycle company to offer an SOS button in Europe.

It is not yet available in Australia because of an eCall hardware update and the lack of a nationwide rollout. Telstra also does not yet have the right hardware.

Germany tech company Bosch is the latest to join the hi-tech safety revolution.

The Bosch system uses an “intelligent crash algorithm installed in the vehicle’s inertial sensor unit” to identify a crash via the various sensors such as an accelerometer and lean sensor.

It pairs with their Help Connect phone app to send your location to a Bosch Service Centre.

All of these systems have similar failsafe