From the NY Times... (it's the whole article becuase they require registration) SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 7 - Fighter pilots have long been able to view flight data projected onto jet windshields within their line of sight. Soon recreational motorcyclists and bicyclists will be able to take advantage of that technology. Motion Research, a Seattle company founded in 1993 by a former racecar driver, Dominic Dobson, said that next spring it would begin selling an inexpensive information display system to be attached to a motorcycle helmet. The Sportvue head-mounted display will allow riders to see speed, r.p.m. and gear position without taking their eyes off the road. The system gathers speed information from a global positioning satellite receiver attached to the rear of the helmet. The design, based on a patent co-developed by Tom Furness, one of the pioneers of head-mounted display technology, uses a lens and mirror and backlit liquid crystal display to give the viewer the illusion that the information displayed in the periphery of one eye is projected in the distance. Mr. Dobson founded Motion Research when he was racing Indianapolis and Formula One cars, and his initial idea was to use the display technology for racecar drivers. But the cost of producing such displays was prohibitively high a decade ago. He retired in 1998 and recently picked the idea up again because the costs of the technology have fallen significantly. "We realized we could build it far more cheaply today," he said. "Not much changed in the technology itself. What happened was the cost of manufacturing changed." Today, he said, the technology is beginning to appear in the consumer market, both in wearable systems and in some cars, like certain models of the Cadillac with systems that project driving information onto the windshield. But Motion Research will be the first company to attempt a truly low-cost consumer application. The price of the motorcycle Sportvue will be from $249 to $349. The bicycle version of Sportvue, which will be introduced sometime after the motorcycle system, will project speed, distance traveled and heart rate information, like current cyclometers, and be from $150 to $199, Mr. Dobson said. He said the company was also in discussions with helmet manufacturers to integrate the display systems into helmets. If you are registered (or want to), click here for the article...
Neat. They where supposed to be devloping stuff like that for cars not long ago (along with a HUD nightvision system in Jaguar's case), but I can see this as being a real benifit for bikers. It'd be nice if the system where bluetooth enabled, so there'd be no need for a cable to the bike.
They've got HUD's in cars now if you want to pay for them. I've seen them in the Pontiac Grand Prix GTP's Here's a pic
Come on!! in my experience as a biker and a car driver, cyclists don't pay attention to the road at the best of times without them having the temptation of concentrating on their heart rate and speed. While there are undoubtedly some good cyclists out there there are some that scarily don't think that the rules of the road or the highway code apply to them. No lights at night, sailing through red lights wrong way up one way streets, I've seen it all and who get prosecuted for bad driving if one gets hit, car drivers! This will not be a major contribution to road safety.
