A passion for motorcycling has its own perils. You can easily find some pretty gloomy statistics showing that motorcyclists are more at risk of serious injury or accident. Even though riding a motorcycle is getting safer every year, it’s still a long way from being a risk-free way to travel.

To enjoy the freedom of driving fast safely, you need two things: correct attitude and equipment. While your approach to safety is your personal choice, I think that there is a lot that can be done regarding your gear.

Considering my accident, I wanted to focus on the awareness and field of view of a person riding a motorbike. How could we increase spatial awareness without creating complicated, not-so-safe solutions, and additional equipment? So I decided that we should focus on changing the main piece of equipment we use to observe our surroundings — the rearview mirrors.

Standard motorcycle mirrors vs. Zercado

The motorbike rider leans his body when driving faster, changing his position to the left and right, and up and down. And yet the mirrors stay in the same place, restricting the field of view behind the rider. How can we change that? I decided to find a way and create a smart solution that will adjust the mirrors to a driver’s position, keeping the field of view constant. At the same time, any “smart” rearview mirror should be durable, elegant and most important — reliable.

You can’t create and launch a great product without a dedicated team. Joining forces with motorcycle enthusiasts, engineers, and designers we set out on a mission to create truly innovative smart mirrors.

I have a feeling that many hardware companies talk too little to their potential customers. This approach leads to them creating products that few people want or need. To avoid this mistake, we decided that dialogue with our potential users will be our central point. After numerous brainstorming sessions, sketches, and engineering hours, the first prototype was created.