Between the well known pairs of Masterchief and Cortana and then Iron Man and Jarvis, we all have a pretty good idea of where the combination of a Heads Up Display and Artificial Intelligence could take us. And the motorcycle industry has mounds of potential to be the realm in which the introductory conceptions of this technology will be first brought to market and refined; for the simple fact that no other set of users, besides perhaps fighter jet pilots, have the need for current information but the almost total restriction to gain access to it. We just can’t reach into our pocket, open our desired Maps application, and search for a destination while riding our bikes down the road. But imagine zooming around on your motorcycle and asking your personal AI to find you the nearest gas station, and then a moment later the road in front of you is highlighted blue and you can see that a right turn is needed just up ahead. This vision could be just around the corner.
With the release of Siri, Apple put one of the first hand-held preliminary AI models onto the market. I say “preliminary” because it is not really fully intelligent yet, as I believe intelligence is represented by some degree of self-awareness. But we’re not here to debate the gargantuan topic that is AI. What Siri represents is a technology that you can make verbal requests of and it then performs the requested task or returns the requested information. This gives you the ability to ask your phone for directions or tell it to txt your friend and tell her to start the BBQ because you’ll be there in 20 minutes. The trick of course, is to be understood by the AI and to obtain the desired result in the optimal form. For example: if I am riding my moto, with my phone in my pocket, and am able to issue a command for directions, I need the AI to commence navigation with verbal directions coming through my headphones, not have my phone attempt to display a map on the its screen.
These fledgling stages of AI may be frustrating to deal with sometimes, but their degree of intelligence should increase exponentially as we continue to use them and feed them information. Microsoft is getting ready to release their response to Siri which, coincidentally, is called Cortana. But in the field of truly intelligent AI, I have the biggest hope for Google. Not only did they pioneer an accurate and efficient web search that returns extremely relevant results, a form of artificial intelligence in itself, but they also currently process, store, and analyze more data than any other company in the world. Because when you get right down to it, the root of an AI’s intelligence is in the amount of data it has access too, and he who commands the greatest database has the most potential for creating Artificial Intelligence.
HUD technology seems to be just a few years behind AI at this point, but currently on the verge of bring some very exciting products to market. This year the motorcycling world is going to see two HUD products released; the bolt-on module by NUVIZ and a whole helmet design by Skully. Both concepts have their advantages and disadvantages and will appeal to different types of riders; I think there will be a strong market for each. Deciding between the two is going to depend on how much of your potential attention you want your HUD to be able to command. The NUVIZ module has a relatively small display, giving you the essentials without being domineering. The Skully AR-1 on the other hand can display across a large portion of the face shield, and has the added advantage of incorporating a rear-view camera into the back of the helmet. Wearing the AR-1 may be a lot like donning the Iron Man helmet, with navigation laid out before you, bike data stacked on the sides and a view of what’s behind you set at the top of your visor. Perhaps Google should call their smartphone AI assistant “Jarvis,” then we’ll have all the bases covered.
The possibilities for this new frontier of technology are vast, and I personally am very excited to see what we will be able to get our hands on in the coming days of this digital millennium. Will our helmets be able to actively alert us to potential traffic threats, or hazardous road conditions? To what degree will we be able to communicate with others; just phone calls or will txting be a possibility? Are such options even safe? Hopefully these “smart helmets” will at least be able to monitor traffic flow along our preferred routes, alerting us of traffic jams and suggesting detours.
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