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Skully plans to ship its Fenix AR motorcycle helmet by summer
It's been a rollercoaster year for Skully. After failing to deliver on its IndieGoGo crowdfunding promises, the company appeared all but dead in August 2016 when LeEco passed on acquiring the firm. However, Skully has since found new owners, resumed development of its AI-guided, AR-enabled Fenix motorcycle helmet and announced plans to begin shipping by this summer.
A new company is trying to revive the Skully AR helmet
Last year, Skully, the startup that crowdfunded its AR motorcycle helmet, shut down following many delays, mounting financial woes and an attempted sale to LeEco that didn't go through. But TechCrunch got its hands on an email that was sent to those still registered to the Skully email list and it says the original company's technology might not be lost forever.
Skully ends its dreams of making augmented reality helmets
If you thought that Skully's plan to crowdfund an augmented reality motorcycle helmet was overly ambitious... unfortunately, you were right. After years of delays and several weeks of grave financial trouble, the startup has informed backers that it's shutting down. Simply put, the company had run out of cash -- it had been scrambling to raise some temporary funding, but that fell through. TechCrunch sources claim that Skully had even been trying to sell itself to Chinese tech giant LeEco. However, it reportedly alienated investors following number of disputes over a possible sale, manufacturing hiccups and executive spending.
Skully debuts AR helmet app while navigating delays
Skully CEO Marcus Weller stood in front of an crowd of customers that shelled out $1,500 to be one of the first recipients of the company's helmet with a heads up display and rear-facing camera to answer their questions. A few weeks ago Weller sent those backers a video message explaining that their helmets would be delayed until the fall. Now he was about to talk to those people face to face to address their concerns and show off the helmet's companion app for the first time. It's a talk he's prepared to give in multiple cities around the world.
Skully's Android-powered smart motorcycle helmet goes up for pre-order
If you take your motorbike rides seriously enough to want a smart heads-up display in your helmet, you can now do something about it. Skully has just launched a crowdfunding campaign for its Android-powered head protector, now named the AR-1; plunk down $1,399 and you should be one of the first to get the wearable when it ships in May 2015. That's both a lot of money and a long time to wait, but Skully is betting that you'll like the data you get while on the road. As promised, the helmet projects navigation, a rear camera view and riding info on your visor. Voice commands let you keep a grip on the handlebars, and smartphone pairing gets the headgear online. The price goes up to $1,499 if you wait until launch to make a purchase, so you may want to commit early if you're determined to augment your two-wheeled adventures.
Skully P-1 helmet packs a heads-up display, rear-facing camera and Android to keep motorcyclists safe
Motorcycle helmets are a simple safety measure -- they keep your noggin safe from objects and falls that would otherwise do it harm. But what if your helmet could help prevent you from getting into an accident in the first place? Marcus Weller, founder of Skully, asked just that question, and the answer he came up with is the P-1 helmet. It's a brain bucket that packs a 180-degree FOV rear-facing camera and a micro-controller running a customized version of Android to deliver navigation and video information to a custom-constructed HUD (similar to Google Glass). And, it takes voice commands so that riders can see where they're going or what's behind them, all in hands-free fashion. To provide such functionality, the P-1 has a fin mounted atop the DOT-approved helmet that houses the aforementioned hardware, plus GPS, Bluetooth, an accelerometer, gyro, compass and a rechargeable battery. The plan is for the P-1 to become available for purchase next spring in matte black or gloss white, and it'll be marketed as an ultra-premium helmet (translation: expect it to cost over $1,000). Skully is currently still in the process of developing apps for the thing, but there will be a handful of finely tuned software available at launch. We can say for sure that means the P-1 will provide wearers with navigation and the ability to view the camera feed, with perhaps an SOS function (should the helmet sense an accident) and other apps to come. The company will be opening up the platform so that third parties can code for it as well. We got to speak with Weller about the process of producing the P-1, so join us after the break for more.
