Most of us, at some point in life, have desired to own a Go Pro camera, mount it on our helmets and go on for a ride. Well, to save the enthusiasts from the pain of mounting and un-mounting the cameras, Bell is developing a helmet which has an integrated 360-degree camera that can record 4K videos at up to 30fps.
To make things simple, let us inform you that a 360-degree camera records videos not only in a particular direction, but the entire surrounding on all sides. At any point, the viewer can stop and see what was happening at the other end of the spectrum. This can either be done by swiping left or right (if you have a touch device), or by scrolling your mouse. So if the rider is in the middle of a group, the camera will not only record the guys at the front, but also at the back, left, right, rear-right, rear-left, front-right, front-left, and any possible direction one can think of.
The camera will also collect valuable information like GPS coordinates, height, atmospheric pressure, along with other usual information. It is still too soon to comment, but the company says that it will soon be able to alert the rider of possible collisions from objects outside the rider's field of view, without the need for vehicle-to-vehicle communications. Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will help the users to sync the camera with their smartphones and use it as a remote to the camera.
360 Fly announced at CES 2016 that it will soon be developing the second generation of its 360-degree camera, which will capture videos with 360-degree horizontal and 240-degree vertical field of view. It will also let the rider choose to opt for a narrow field of view at 1440p resolution.
Bell will sell four helmets initially with the 360-degree camera - the Bell Star for motorcycles, the Bell Moto 9 for off-roading, the Bell Super 2R for mountain biking, and the Giro Edit for snowboarding and skiing.
