The Lotus C-01 is real
Rumors have been circulating for quite some time that Lotus was going to make a motorcycle. Exactly what form that would take was as big a question as whether or not it would ever actually happen. Now we know the answer to both. It is really happening, and they’ve built a drag-style cruiser, complete with a 200 HP v-twin. There are not a lot of other details available at the moment. Apparently, they will only build 100 of them, and the price hasn’t been announced. More background, and more pictures, are available at the Top Gear website.
Heads Up Display for Motorcycles
This helmet is awesome. If you are a motorcycle rider, chances are that at some point you have messed about with integrating your phone as part of your riding experience. And, more than likely, the result was something less than stellar. The idea is solid. Hands free calls… Music… GPS… Turn By Turn Nav… Voice Control… The reality is that it’s always a kludge. There are wires and bolt on accessories. And if it rains, the phone can’t come out and play. Fortunately, a new answer is on the way.
Meet the Skully Heads Up Display Helmet. Simply put, it builds all of that functionality you are looking for into the helmet, and adds a heads up display to give you access to it.They call the system the Synapse(TM) integrated Heads-Up Display (HUD). In more detail, that gives you a 180° rear-view camera, GPS mapping and navigation, and Bluetooth integration with your phone. The animation below shows what it looks like in action with rear-view, GPS, turn-by-turn, phone calls, and weather.
Behind the scenes, the Synapse system is running on Skully’s version of Android. That’s notable, as the company is planning on releasing a SDK later, allowing developers to add new functionality to the helmet. The lithium ion battery is reported to be good for nine hours of use, which should be more than enough for all but the craziest of riders. The future is now! Or, rather, next year. Current plans have the helmet releasing to the public in 2014.