Did you know that a smart helmet, which Volvo plans to release, can be an excellent addition to all these futuristic bicycles with heart rate sensors and rockets as engines? It will be equipped with a dual-lane system that will communicate information about the location of cyclists and cars to the company’s cloud data center. While car owners can do this using a navigation system, helmet owners will need to install a “cycling app” like Strava. With its help, cyclists will be able to receive warnings about approaching or crossing cars through built-in helmet lights. In turn, drivers will receive a warning about the presence of a nearby bicycle through an indicator on the windshield, which is especially useful if the approaching object is in the “blind spot”.

It sounds intriguing, of course, but how feasible such a system is in practice is a big question: firstly, not everyone drives a Volvo, and secondly, not everyone will want to share information about their location with a data center. Several car manufacturers have previously demonstrated V2X (vehicle-to-infrastructure) systems, but so far none of them have made it to the market. In general, if you are interested in this innovation, stay tuned for news, at the CES 2015 exhibition we will be able to see an experimental prototype with our own eyes.