Nolan augmented reality Sony collaborationItalian helmet manufacturer Nolan will celebrate its 45th anniversary next year. Since 1972 the company says it has sold over 30 million helmets, collected 53 world titles and equipped over 1,000 riders in the most important competitions in the world.
These days the company remains one of the few European helmet manufacturers to still undertake most of its manufacturing operations here in Europe (in Italy, where it employs some 350 people at its 35,000 sq m Bergamo facility) and sells its internationally approved Nolan, X-Lite and Grex brands to more than 80 countries worldwide.
In addition to new helmet introductions, EICMA saw Nolan announce a collaboration with Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony to develop its N-Com ARX project – a prototype helmet with augmented reality technology.
Visitors were able to try a simulated augmented reality experience on the Nolan booth at EICMA by getting on a bike and wearing the prototype helmet fitted with the N-Com ARX system.
The company describes the N-Com ARX as a “technologically innovative project that incorporates Sony’s unique holographic waveguide technology provided in the form of an optical module that takes the light created in the optical engine, and projects a virtual image through the holographic optical elements to the eyes of the wearer.
“The interaction between the N-Com communication system integrated into the helmet with Sony’s optical module and the tailor-made Smartphone App allows the projection, via a heads-up display, of a hologram in the rider’s field of vision, thus supplying support information for safety and riding comfort”.
Answering the concerns that have been expressed by some automotive consumer groups in Europe that the increasing use of technology could distract drivers, Nolan say that “the viewing of a range of useful and essential information on a see-through display, combined with audio indications, allows the rider to concentrate on driving.
“Through an open-source platform, N-Com ARX offers possibilities for the development of applications for the projection of various types of information on a heads-up display. This special prototype helmet is part of a development project for the N-Com brand for the near future. We cannot market this innovation immediately, but it highlights the innovation that distinguishes the N-Com brand”, stated Claudio Corollo, Nolan’s N-Com Division Manager.
Corollo added: “Our prime objective remains the safety of our clients, but this kind of technology also represents the near future for motorcyclists, and we definitely do not want to find ourselves, our distributors, dealers and riders unprepared”.
Hiroshi Mukawa, who leads the development of hologram waveguide technology as General Manager of the SIG business department at Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, said “it has been a pleasure to work with Nolan on building this Technology Demonstrator. At Sony we always aim to exceed market expectations, and we believe our hologram waveguide technology will bring about brand new experiences for motorcyclists”.
NOLAN GROUP
www.nolan.com
