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Edison helmet connects to internet

Edison helmet
Edison computer helmet

Riders may soon be able to connect to the internet and access Google Maps via a tiny Edison computer in their helmet.

Intel has displayed a helmet using an Edison chip computer at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress.

The helmet also has built-in brake and indicator lights on the back that work in time with a connected BMW motorbike.

A microphone inside the helmet also allows riders to search the web and Google Maps using voice commands, without needing to be connected to the internet as the information is stored on the Edison chip.

The rider can interact with the intelligent unit by speech using trigger phrases and ask for directions.

The helmet has been in development since October and is not yet ready for road use yet.

It is one of several hi-tech helmets being developed or hitting the market such as the Skully which is the world’s first commercially available motorcycle helmet with head-up display.

READ ABOUT THE SKULLY

Skully AR-1 HUD helmets
Skully AR-1 HUD helmet

The development of these hi-tech helmets will create issues of rider safety and will become a challenge for legislators to keep pace with developments.

Meanwhile, the tiny Edison computer used in this helmet costs on $50 and has a powerful dual-core Atom system on chip (SoC) Pentium-class x86 processor.

For the geeks out there, the device runs Linux and, despite its size, has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth modules which make it ideal for application in a motorcycle helmet.

Edison is delivered as a bare-board module about the size of a postage stamp, and is based on a 500MHz dual-core Atom CPU with 1GB memory and 4GB flash storage, combined with a 32-bit Quark micro-controller at 100MHz.

Edison doesn’t actually require the internet to function, as the processing power can be done on the chip. However, it can also connect to its own app store.

  1. I`m glad to see that big names are starting to invest technology and funding towards improving motorcycle gear but I hope that this industry will not fall in the same mess as the mobile industry. You have 1000 mobile devices on the market but none of them are actually reliable and they are very vulnerable.
    The difference between them is that if a phone breaks when you are going 100km\h nothing will happen but if the computer in my helmet freezes and what ever parts of the motorcycle are connected to it as well… that would be bad.

    We will see how it goes…

  2. If its battery powered the victoria police would class it as modified when you changed batteries. Great idea and when they get a Australian standard approved version i would consider buying one.

  3. If they cant keep a simple stamdard like the AS1609 visor standard up to date there is no hope they would be able to keep any AS1698 standard up to date with changing technology. The AS1698 Standards Committee is dysfunctional and commercial pressures to certify helmets means helmets with dual visors are being approved even though the standard never envisaged them and does not cover them today. We are on our own with it all and are constantly at risk of fines from over zealous police action

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