Everyone loves a good crowd-funded startup, and one project we're excited about as the product nears launch is Hammerhead, an LED-based cycling navigation system that offers turn-by-turn directions from the handlebars of your bike.
Based in New York, the Hammerhead startup launched with funding raised through Dragon Innovation (similar to Kickstarter) and currently comprises seven team members led by CEO Piet Morgan. Growing up in South Africa, Morgan rode bikes as a child with his friend and classmate - and future Tour de France winner - Chris Froome, and his passion for cycling continued while studying at Yale.
There are two parts to the Hammerhead product: an app, which allows you to create custom maps and routes optimised for cycling, and the Hammerhead One device itself, which mounts to the handlebars of your bike and translates the turn-by-turn directions from the app into easy-to-read light signals that point out turns as you ride.
Describing the inspiration behind the Hammerhead, Morgan explains: "I believe that there are such fantastic rides all over the world that few end up doing because they are unaware of them, or find the routes hard to find and even harder to try to follow while actually riding. Our app and hardware will allow one to easily identify great routes and share them with friends. You will then be guided by simple and easy to understand turn by turn instructions."
The app allows you to create routes based on preferences - for example, you can select a route that includes (or avoids) hills and traffic, choose popular routes from third-party apps like Strava and MapMyRide, and share your favourite rides with others. As well as the navigational LEDs the Hammerhead One incorporates an onboard altimeter and a front light to help you be seen.
It's an ingenious idea. Of course, existing GPS devices such as the Garmin Edge range already offer turn-by-turn directions indicated visually on-screen along with audible bleeps to warn when you've strayed off course. But the Hammerhead looks like a much more elegant solution. The sleek curves and glowing blue-green lights on the prototypes are beautiful, evoking bioluminescent organisms from the ocean depths. The designers say the lights will be clearly visible in daylight as well as at night, and if so the Hammerhead should make following directions much easier than squinting at a small, data-cluttered screen on your stem.
The Hammerhead pairs with your smartphone using Bluetooth to receive the map directions from the app, and it will be interesting to see how this works in practice. A key aspect will be the speed with which directions are relayed from phone to the Hammerhead, especially in complicated city routes where any lag could mean missing your turning. The Hammerhead is designed to signal when you need to pull a U-turn, but a snappy and reliable system will be essential for the product's success and the Hammerhead team are confident they've nailed it.
So when can you have one? The Hammerhead is currently available for pre-order priced $85, and Morgan tells us the release date may be as soon as December this year: "We are doing everything in our power to ship by Christmas, although there is a chance that we ship in January due to some delay that I cannot yet anticipate. I know that there are still some key development milestones that we have to complete, and that each of them might itself represent a delay."
We hope to have a unit in for testing soon after release, and will bring you the full review as soon as we get our hands on one. In the meantime, you can keep an eye on the team's progress at their website and blog, which offers a fascinating insight into the work that goes into bringing a new product to market.
0 Comments