Augmented reality helmets? F-35 fighter pilots are using them from some time now to have a look to the airplane performance without having to look down; now, thanks to the two devices presented at CES 2016 by BMW and Skully, this new technology entered also the two-wheeled world.

BMW isn’t new to experiments with augmented reality: we’ve already seen the results of their hi-tech tests when they released the smart glasses helping the driver fixing his vehicle and the famous MINI goggles, with that peculiar strange old-style look. At the Las Vegas event they wanted to surprise us again, this time making a step for taking motorcycling to the future: the company presented DigiLens, their new augmented reality helmet that helps bikers driving in a safer way. To explain easily this device, it’s enough to say they are a Google Glass for helmets, just with a wider view: DigiLens is a magnetic, colored display as thin as eyeglasses that can be clipped in front of the driver’s eye. Inside the helmet, in the biker’s field of view, DigiLens shows important information superimposed.

“This technology has the potential to enhance the riding experience by making it easier to see what is behind you, as well as keeping important information in the rider’s field of view,” says Robert Richter, senior advanced technology engineer at the BMW Group Technology Office USA.

Another device related to the world of motorcycling is the augmented reality helmet AR-1 by Skully. At the moment at the end of the crowdfunding campaign, with the device available on the official site for $1499, Skully took part to CES 2016 with a demonstration of the possibilities of AR-1. Skully is an helmet that uses augmented reality to show useful information and also what is recorded with a camera placed on its back directly in the field of view of the biker. Other than this feature, the smart helmet has also an internal audio function that let the driver listen to music and follow the directions given by the navigator.