Skully Inc., has developed a heads-up display motorcycle helmet and also joined startup with Apple, Google and other companies to create products that merge technologies for vehicles, wearables and mobile computing.
“There is more of a confluence of consumer electronics and automotive,” Marcus Weller, Skully’s founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview. “These next five years are going to be defined by these two worlds coming together and bringing a level of value to the customer that they’ve never seen before.”
Technology companies are getting into transportation — from cars to drones and spaceships — and pioneering new business models. Apple is working on developing its own car, according to people familiar with the effort, while Google is investing in self-driving cars, drones and satellites. Electric- carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. are both led by Elon Musk.
Skully’s financing round was led by Intel Capital, the investment arm of the world’s largest chipmaker, and Walden Riverwood Ventures, the investment firm that helped GoPro Inc. raise money. Formation 8, Techstars, Eastlink Capital and Western Technology Investments also participated in the funding round, the company said on Friday.
“If you look at helmets, they’ve been basically unchanged for 50 years,” Weller said. “They are foam and plastic shells that prevent your head from hitting the pavement when you crash, but they do relatively little to actually prevent the accident in the first place.”
Skully’s helmet, called the AR-1, has a heads-up display, which appears to float in front of the rider, showing a rear- view camera feed along with GPS navigation and other functions. The helmet sells for about $1,500, according the company’s website.
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