TVS gets into the HUD helmet game
Norton's parent company has developed an HUD helmet to fill your head with info without having to look at your bike or phone.
We’ve been hearing manufacturers promise heads-up display (HUD) helmets for more than a decade, but so far they’ve never really filtered into the mainstream.
Now TVS – theIndian company behind Norton, as well as the coming-to-the-UK Apache RR 310 – is throwing its hat into the ring.
Working with Switzerland-based Aegis Rider and making use of Qualcomm technology, the TVS AR helmet is pitched as functioning much like your smartphone, without you actually having to look at said smartphone while riding.
This is something that would certainly benefit riders in TVS’ home turf of India, where, we recently discovered, it is very common to ride with one hand clutching a phone. A surprising number of riders will simply tuck the phone between shoulder and ear, happily chatting away to a mate as they swerve about the road.
TVS says it has spent 5 years working with Aegis Rider on this project. The integrated version of the helmet will show riders of TVS or Norton bikes a wealth of information, including bike info (eg, speed, RPM, gear position, fuel level and indicators), maps, calls, and messages.
Cue the old-man concern about filling a person’s helmet with even more noise, both figurative and literal – riders will also be able to control music through the helmet. And to ensure that all your friends know how cool you are, the helmet comes equipped with an integrated action camera.
TVS says the helmet’s battery will last for 4 hours (which, if we’re honest, doesn’t sound all that impressive).
Meanwhile, in terms of doing what a helmet is actually supposed to do, TVS and Aegis Rider’s lid is ECE 22.06 and DOT certified. The questions that have not yet been answered, however, are when the helmet will be released and how much it will cost.
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
