Virtual reality and augmented reality – when VR elements are overlaid on the real world – have had a hesitant start in recent years. However, the launch of heavily promoted devices, such as Apple’s Vision Pro or Meta’s Quest, suggests they are maturing and becoming truly useful technologies and, inevitably, there are suggestions that they could somehow be incorporated into motorcycling.
Augmented reality is essentially a development of what used to be simply called a head-up display, overlaying information onto your normal field of vision. This idea has been experimented with several times with helmets. BMW introduced an augmented reality motorcycle helmet in 2016 and, this year, revealed a prototype of augmented reality driving glasses, but the slow pace of development is illustrated by the fact that the German company demonstrated a prototype of augmented reality glasses over two decades ago, in 2003, and an augmented reality car windshield in 2011. As early as 2002, the company experimented with HUD helmets for their F1 team pilots. The technology is available, but there are still doubts among customers.
However, this does not prevent Yamaha from developing in the same concept, and a new patent shows how it is considering incorporating AR into a motorcycle helmet. Yamaha’s interest in AR also dates back several years. In 2015, the electric sports bike concept PES2 was accompanied by an augmented reality helmet that worked similarly to Apple Vision Pro’s passthrough. It incorporated a Sony mixed reality headset that covered the rider’s eyes and used stereo cameras to transmit images of the outside world to screens inside, adding AR graphics as needed. But that was almost a decade ago and there is still no Yamaha augmented reality helmet available for purchase (or a Yamaha electric sports bike, for that matter).
It is this “line of sight” element that the new patent seeks to achieve, as Yamaha recognizes that the head is not kept still. Lean forward on a sportbike and you’ll see through the top of the visor. If we sit on a cruiser, we’ll see through a much lower section. Furthermore, we are constantly moving while riding, which makes life even more inconvenient for HUD designers. For AR images to be successfully overlaid on our vision, the helmet must have external cameras to monitor what is happening in front of us, but also internal cameras to check where our eyes are focused.
The design of Yamaha features up to four tiny cameras pointing at you (two for each eye) mounted on the edge of the augmented reality glasses behind the visor. These work together with infrared light to determine where each eye is looking, so that the system can decide where to position the images it is overlaying onto the outside world. The patent does not go into detail about the type of information that would be transmitted, but it is specific about the fact that the design is intended for use on motorcycles and reveals several configurations for different types of helmets, both open and full-face. It also mentions that other helmet users – from riders to baseball players – may benefit from the technology, but only in passing, to ensure that the patent coverage is as broad as possible.
