Skully P-1 helmet runs Android with HUD and rear camera.
Your average motorcycle helmet is essentially designed to do one thing, keep your brain intact in the event of a hard impact. While the Skully is a DOT approved helmet and will protect you, the technology inside of it is what makes it a real game changer. Not only does it protect you the same way your current one does, it can help you avoid getting into an accident to begin with.
The Fin
The fin on the top rear of the helmet is what houses an amazing amount of tech and where the real magic happens. Inside of there you will find the micro-controller that is running the custom version of Android operating the whole show. Aside that piece of hardware it also contains the rear camera, an accelerometer, Bluetooth, GPS, gyro, compass, and a rechargeable battery to keep it all running. It has also been custom designed to eliminate any ambient noise while riding.
The HUD and Camera
What really makes this helmet so special and potentially safer is the HUD (heads up display) that can feed you information as your drive that you would otherwise have to turn you attention away from the road to look for. Add on top of that a rear facing 180 degree field of view camera and you can see in the picture above one example of how this system could be very helpful. Having a direct live feed from the camera mounted on the back of the helmet to monitor the traffic coming up behind you could save your life in a bunch of ways. It is also a much easier way to get a view of everything behind you at once instead of checking each mirror individually and being distracted longer. Even better, displaying a live feed of the camera is just one trick this thing can perform. You can also have the HUD display weather, or navigation info if you are on a long trip or in an unfamiliar area. Switching between the applications can be performed by voice command, so again, there is minimal distraction and you never have to take your hands off the bars. Skully is still developing the apps, but they will have at least a handful of well optimized ones available at launch. Third parties will also have access to platform in the future to develop on. Although it is built to work without a data connection, the platform was designed to pair up with a smartphone to provide real time information like traffic updates, or you can also take calls and listen to music. At launch there will be two colors available, either a matte black or a gloss white. Aiming for a release this spring, no price has been announced, I would just assume it will be over a thousand dollars. But like anything else, if it becomes mainstream, it will only get cheaper.
Here is a video of it in action to get a better idea what wearing something like this while riding might be like.
Ben Johnson
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