Motorcyclist spends £100,000 inventing a head up display helmet that has GPS and dashboard display built into its visor

Dave Vout, 52, from Stoke-on-Trent, developed the Bike HUD (Heads-up-display), that is similar to the Google Glass technology

The HUD is attached to a helmet and displays the speedometer, gear, rev counter, indicator and time in the rider’s eyesight

A motorbike fan has spent over £100,000 inventing a Terminator-style helmet that shows the dashboard display in the rider’s visor.

Dave Vout, 52, developed the Bike HUD (heads-up-display), which is similar to the Google Glass technology currently being tested for pedestrians.



The HUD is attached to a helmet and displays the speedometer, rev counter, gear and time in the rider’s eyesight, so they do not have to take their eyes off the road.

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The HUD is attached to a helmet and displays the speedometer, rev counter, gear and time in the rider¿s eyesight, so they do not have to take their eyes off the road

The system consists of three parts: the HUD display, which is fixed to the helmet, plus an on-board computer and GPS unit, which are both fitted in the body of the motorbike.



The display is mounted below the rider’s cheek bone and so it is visible at the bottom left of the user’s visor, to enable the person to read the display effortlessly, while still having enough road visibility.

Mr Vout said the HUD is fully adjustable so that it can sit inside the rider's helmet in the perfect position to display real time information like the speed and revs, for example.



Dave Vout (pictured) developed the Bike Heads Up Display (HUD), which is similar to the Google Glass technology currently being tested for pedestrians

HOW DOES THE HELMET WORK?

The system consists of three parts: the HUD display, which is fixed to the helmet, plus an on-board computer and GPS unit, which are both fitted in the body of the motorbike.

The display is mounted below the rider’s cheek bone and so it is visible at the bottom left of the user’s visor, to enable the person to read the display effortlessly, while still having enough road visibility. The device has four riding modes for commuting, leisure riding, touring and track day racing.

Mr Vout said the HUD is fully adjustable so that it can sit inside the rider's helmet in the perfect position to display real time information like the speed and revs, for example.

Mr Vout began working on his futuristic helmet in 2010 and has spent £100,000 developing the technology, which he plans on selling the for £350 per unit next month.

The device has four riding modes for commuting, leisure riding, touring and track day racing.

Commuting mode shows gear selection, indicators, speed and engine speed, while touring mode adds GPS coordinates and mileage countdown for longer-distance journeys.

In track day mode, the HUD tells the rider if their last lap was faster or slower than the preceding one.

Mr Vout, a married father-of-three, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, said: 'It has been three years in the making and we’ve spent to date, £110,000.

'It all started out when I was looking for a gadget that would help me see behind the bike, being a fat boy, it was quite hard to see in the mirrors and I had a couple of near misses on the bike.

The HUD is slightly similar to the Terminator's android vision, (a still from the film is pictured) which shows details about objects and useful information for travelling along

Mr Vout began working on his futuristic helmet (pictured) in 2010 and has spent £100,000 developing the technology, which he plans on selling for £350 per unit next month. The display is attached to the inside of the helmet using a fully-adjustable clamp

'No-one could find anything online anywhere so I left it for a while because I thought someone must be working on it already, although after a few months I went back to it, did some more research and began planning.

He employed an optical engineer and an electronics engineer to develop the product and spent six months such as buying lenses and a 3D printer to test it themselves.



'It is a slight cross between looking like the Terminator and Google Glass, although we were working on this long before Google,' he said.



'The contraption is mounted by a brace to the inside of the helmet and the point is for the rider to look over the top of it so they keep their head up and eyes on the road.'



The system consists of three parts: the HUD display, which is fixed to the helmet, plus an on-board computer and GPS unit, which are both fitted in the body of the motorbike

The bike HUD is set to launch between November 23 and December 1 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, where orders can be placed.

It will be sold for between £300 and £350, although as more buyers emerge, Mr Vout hopes to lower the price.

'It is a great product for all types of riders. I’ve been riding for decades and ride for pleasure,' he said.



'Some riders will ride between April and October for pleasure, meaning they won’t be riding for six months of the year.

'When those sort of people get back on the bike, they need to get into it again. They would be a bit rusty, so this is a great product for them and will help them concentrate on corners and what’s going on around them.

The device has four riding modes for commuting, leisure riding, touring and track day racing. Commuting mode (pictured) shows gear selection, indicators, speed and the time, while touring mode adds GPS coordinates and mileage countdown for longer-distance journeys

'It will be equally as useful for commuters; for example, a person travelling into London, maybe on the M25, when they are approaching a variable camera and won't have to look down to check how fast they’re going.

'And obviously, for a young rider, they need to concentrate as much as possible, so this will help them to do that.

He said the product is 100 per cent British and the firm is based in the Midlands and the HUD manufactured in the UK.

