Dudes on motorcycles just got even cooler. The Silicon Valley company Skully Helmets has created a motorcycle helmet that affords the wearer a video feed of everything that’s happening behind him. As a result, the company won the best wearable tech company award in this year’s technology competition of 2014 SXSW Interactive Festival.
The video below shows how somebody wearing the helmet, called the Skully AR-1, can see oncoming traffic behind him or her. It also shows how a rider can get weather updates, traffic conditions, and even ignore calls from that one girl, Sarah.
The Skully AR-1 is designed to make life safer for the motorcycle rider, eliminating the need to take their eyes off of the road ahead of them. Want to try one on? According to the Skully website, approved beta-testers can order a pre-release Skully AR-1. On the application form, you’ll have to tell them “Why I want a Skully?” with a pre-filled answer: “I want to feel like Iron Man.” They know their demographic.
If you’re as scared of motorcycles as I am, would this helmet make you feel better about riding one? And for those of you who already ride a steel horse, how much would you throw down for a Skully Helmet? Tell us in the comment section below.
HT: LiveScience
I love this concept! To me, this will help raise safety and protect the fellow rider. However, it could lead to people relying on the helmet to much where they might lose sense of other things around them. Thanks for sharing!
Its a great concept.. but a long way from being a real product unlike REEVU.. Great marketing.
very impressive concept, i dont think it would be thoo distracting because you would get used to it. I expect more and more helmets to start using this technology.
Wow I want one. Wonder what the battery life is like? Anyone else worried about all that tech attached to your head microwaving your brain lol!
I ride and I wouldn’t drop $700 on this. It’s amazing and cool, but my bike comes with rear view mirrors that are actually really easy to use, and if I want tunes I have ear buds. As for a phone call, I’m on the bike and that means I don’t want to talk. I really want a heads up diplay in my helmet or projected on to my windshield though. This is a step in that direction. it’s cool though.
I dont have a bike but I might just wear it around to feel like Iron Man
I applied to be a beta tester, really hoping I get chosen. I think this is such a cool idea. I think the most I would spend would be around 250-300 dollars.
cool idea, cool look. I don’t ride but it seems very distracting to me to have a view going backwards so prominently in my face and mixing my forward turn directions with my backwards view doesnt sound safe either.
As a rider, I would love this. I would probably throw down about $700 to $850 on a great helmet, but to have this, I would probably be spending around $2000. Just for the added vision and safety this provides, it’s worth probably more than that. Hopefully it will do everything the promo video says. Honestly, just having the rear facing camera in the HUD is all I would need, as I already have pandora and calls come in through my iPhone, and one of the reasons I ride is to escape all the calls and texts that come in all the time. Just my opinion but, each rider is different. This looks awesome though.
Decent full face helmets already range from $200-500. I’d expect this one to enter the market at about $700. A little pricey for a gadget, but how much does Google Glass cost, and that won’t save your life in a crash.