EyeRide HUD

[Seba]

Some background first. Few months ago I was asked to add support for EyeRide HUD to EUC World. EyeRide is a helmet-mounted display that could be used to display some vital information from EUC World application. At that time this was just a project published on Kickstarter and  Indiegogo. As it seemed to be an interesting idea, I decided to back it on Indiegogo. As it later turned out, the project was several months late. Finally, I received my device today.

EyeRide HUD is a display compatible with Android Auto. This means it may display information from apps that are compatible with Android Auto, just like some car infotainment screens are. The only difference is that EyeRide HUD is using wireless connection. One could say - ok, that's great! I don't want to have any wires hanging down from my helmet. I agree, but if we take a look at the Google requirements for wireless Android Audio connectivity, we'll see that for making it working, we need:

1. Mobile device running Android 11, or
2. Google or Samsung running Android 10, or
3. Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, or Note 8, with Android 9.0.

More, apart from requirements above, device has to be equipped with 5 GHz WiFi networking. Your device doesn't meet these requirements? Forget about EyeRide HUD.

Being an experienced IT guy and Android developer, I was able to make it working with my Huawei P30 Pro under Android 10 after some 2-3 hours of fight, trials and errors, throwing bad words and magical spells. Finally I got this working, but... lost Internet connectivity. It's because EyeRide is using WiFi connection (and also BT connection). The problem is that my Huawei tries to route all Internet requests to active WiFi connection, while it's used by EyeRide. While there's an option (in hidden developer settings) to force Android to use cellular connection even if WiFi is active, it didn't worked  for me.

EyeRide consists of two pieces - first one is a display prism that is mounted somewhere to the front part of helmet, so the prism part is located at about 1,5 cm ahead of your right eye. The second part is the circular controller, that is mounted on the right side of the helmet using 3M VHB tape. Well... I expected this to me more like my Sena S10.

Controller part is connected with the prism by flat cable that is fixed. You can't separate two parts. EyeRide is not only an Android Auto compatible display. Actually, it also works as a Bluetooth communication set. While not shown on photos, there is also a set of flat speakers and a mic included. Controller part is equipped with USB-C connector for charging. Entire device is claimed to be IP54.

I'll be posting updates and more details later, as I'll get experience with EyeRide, but for now I can say that I'm rather sceptical about it. Some users that received their items earlier report that battery lasts for only about of one hour of riding. Limited device compatibility and problematic setup may discourage many users to use this.

[Tawpie]

With iOS (never tried this with Android), you can change the wifi router up address to a blank instead of a real ip address. That lets iOS know that internet isn’t available on wifi so it uses cell for internet instead. You still can use all the ‘WiFi services’ normally—had to do this to allow me to airplay video from my phone’s cell connection to my AppleTV. Android probably says you’re connected without internet and may ask if you want to stay connected anyway (seems to have appeared in recent android 10). Perhaps it’s worth a try?

Edited January 4, 2021 by Tawpie
Add detail

[Seba]

9 minutes ago, Tawpie said:

With iOS (never tried this with Android), you can change the wifi router up address to a blank instead of a real ip address. That lets iOS know that internet isn’t available on wifi so it uses cell for internet instead. You still can use all the ‘WiFi services’ normally—had to do this to allow me to airplay video from my phone’s cell connection to my AppleTV. Android probably says you’re connected without internet and may ask if you want to stay connected anyway (seems to have appeared in recent android 10). Perhaps it’s worth a try?

Unfortunately WiFi connection to EyeRide HUD is competely managed by Android Auto module, so you don't have any influence on it and can't make any settings. I suspect that the problem is that my P30 Pro isn't officially supported by Android Auto. I tweaked my system to make it working, but it seems I was only able to make it working only partially.

[AtlasP]

How's image quality? (Combination of display & optics, ability to find/keep it in sweet-spot despite bumps/vibrations inherent in riding, brightness/visibility in sunlight, etc. Forgive the deluge of detailed questions, I'm just a huge HMD geek.)

[AtlasP]

If the display hardware is decent, the rest of this seems solvable (mostly just finding the right phone hardware and solving some software issues). Then it would just be the battery-life as a last major hurdle. Presumably it has some kind of USB-port for charging, could you connect to an external battery like in a pocket to extend battery life while using?

[Seba]

15 hours ago, Seba said:

Some users that received their items earlier report that battery lasts for only about of one hour of riding.

So I've made tests and my unit lasts for exactly 2 hours and 30 minutes. Display brightness at full, LED ring turned off, no audio played. Well, a result well below what is acceptable for me. I would at least expect 4 hours of runtime.

11 hours ago, AtlasP said:

If the display hardware is decent, the rest of this seems solvable (mostly just finding the right phone hardware and solving some software issues).

I hope that short battery life could be improved by software updates. Controller unit gets really hot, so clearly there is a lot of energy lost as heat. Maybe they just need to oprimize software, dunno.

11 hours ago, AtlasP said:

Presumably it has some kind of USB-port for charging, could you connect to an external battery like in a pocket to extend battery life while using?

The problem is that you don't want to have any additional elements like a USB cable going from your helmet-mounted HUD to a powerbank in your pocket. After all it's a wireless device  Controller part is already bulky and heavy, so attaching a powerbank to your helmet will make it too heavy and complicated. And I don't like my helmet to look like a "special ops" helmet with comm set, night vision etc. etc. 

11 hours ago, AtlasP said:

How's image quality? (Combination of display & optics, ability to find/keep it in sweet-spot despite bumps/vibrations inherent in riding, brightness/visibility in sunlight, etc. Forgive the deluge of detailed questions, I'm just a huge HMD geek.)

Image quality is good. However to see entire screen area you need to set prism at about 1-2 cm from your eye. This is something that makes me little unfomfortable thinking anbout possible eye damage caused by this prism in case of faceplant. Also I'm not sure how it will work during riding - I mean all the vibrations etc. Maybe the solution is to just create display layout that will center most key information in center of the screen. Yet have to test how it works in sunlight, but I think that a high-contrast, dashboard-like information screen will be easily to read.

[Planemo]

I really appreciate this Seba, thanks.

As you say, the battery life is a deal breaker. For me at least.

A shame, because this looked like an excellent product.

[Unventor]

About Huds. It is odd in beginning but most get used to it fast. Once you doo it is not an issue unless you don't have your HUD. Because it is easy to use with less distractions. (expireance from my previous car). 

It is something eye and brain needs to learn how to use. 

Power back could go into a pocket or pouch hanged in jacket or attached on backpack harness by car bin hook. I did so with my bike headlight system. 

The power source (like a power back I had on inner pocket of my jacket. 

[Unventor]

6 minutes ago, Planemo said:

I really appreciate this Seba, thanks.

As you say, the battery life is a deal breaker. For me at least.

A shame, because this looked like an excellent product.

First iteration always show where to focus next development stage and list short comings. 

[xSAMCOx]

Intresting  i like gizmos

[AtlasP]

12 hours ago, Seba said:

The problem is that you don't want to have any additional elements like a USB cable going from your helmet-mounted HUD to a powerbank in your pocket. After all it's a wireless device  Controller part is already bulky and heavy, so attaching a powerbank to your helmet will make it too heavy and complicated. And I don't like my helmet to look like a "special ops" helmet with comm set, night vision etc. etc. 

 

11 hours ago, Unventor said:

Power back could go into a pocket or pouch hanged in jacket or attached on backpack harness by car bin hook. I did so with my bike headlight system. 

 

I agree with Unventor here. A single cable going from the back of my helmet down the inside of my jacket to a battery in my back pocket isn't a deal-breaker for me. In fact if the puck really is oversized like you've described, I'd almost wish the entire puck unit could be put in a back pocket or belt clip rather than have too large a thing hanging off my helmet. (Really a shame it doesn't use a detachable cable here to provide some flexibility in this way.) Of course in an ideal world it'd be small enough to be self-contained on the helmet. But over a certain size/weight, then I think a cable to my back pocket would be less of a downside than having too large/heavy of a thing on the helmet.

Edited January 5, 2021 by AtlasP

[Lefteris]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:26 PM, Seba said:

throwing bad words and magical spells

you had me there  

[Unventor]

12 minutes ago, Lefteris said:

you had me there  

I am sure a documentary on YouTube could be payoff of the cost of the Eyeride 

[Lefteris]

Just now, Unventor said:

I am sure a documentary on YouTube could be payoff of the cost of the Eyeride 

Yeah, hear that @Seba document the whole process ..  

[.....]

Damn, more freaking tech mounted to our heads to ride a single wheel down the street at slow speeds, than they had on the first moon landing. At one point, doesnt it just make sense to stay home and play a video game with headset on? The ultimate in safety gear... wear a full suit and helmet, don a heads up display and sit on your couch.  I wonder what the saturation point is for information and the human brain being able to focus on the task at hand? Gps screens in cars are stupid dangerous. Now we will have it in our eyeballs at all times. TO each his own, but it seems this kind of thing is starting to miss the entire point of going for a ride.

[.....]

On 1/5/2021 at 10:47 AM, xSAMCOx said:

Intresting  i like gizmos

Velcro him to the wheel and you're good to go. No batteries, inexpensive, won't disrupt your view and he won't bitch about you not wearing a helmet! For the NYC riders, I reccomend feeding him after midnight and giving him a long bath.

Edited January 6, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Scubadragonsan]

For Seba, I've been occasionally using the Raptor from Everysight when riding the wheel. The only thing the Raptor glasses won't show is the battery life of the wheel. Is there any chance you can make the Raptor glasses connected to the wheel and show battery life? Maybe do some sort of collaboration with Everysight.

Everysight, Raptor website: https://everysight.com/product/raptor/

[Seba]

2 minutes ago, scubadragosan said:

For Seba, I've been occasionally using the Raptor from Everysight when riding the wheel. The only thing the Raptor glasses won't show is the battery life of the wheel. Is there any chance you can make the Raptor glasses connected to the wheel and show battery life? Maybe do some sort of collaboration with Everysight.

Everysight, Raptor website: https://everysight.com/product/raptor/

I know Raptor eyeglasses. This is very interesting platform, especially that there is a development kit coming that would allow developers to use these glasses in custom projects. Ufortunately, price tag is killing - I don't think that many people willing to pay over 700 EUR for it.

[AtlasP]

What about the original Google Glass? I know they were pretty sh1tty (just a few lines of monochrome text), but I bet you could get one pretty cheap on ebay, and could at least provide speed, battery, maybe text turn-by-turn directions.

Edited January 10, 2021 by AtlasP

[Unventor]

10 minutes ago, AtlasP said:

What about the original Google Glass? I know they were pretty sh1tty (just a few lines of monochrome text), but I bet you could get one pretty cheap on ebay, and could at least provide speed, battery, maybe text turn-by-turn directions.

I see no point in picking up old discontinued tech. Cheap or not. 

If I were to set up developing something I would aim for something new.

It is also why I like the smartwatch development over pebble option. Eventually the old pebbles will stop working. 

But I like that @Sebawent for it to try the Eyeride. Might be too soon to deem it out. 

[AtlasP]

7 hours ago, Unventor said:

I see no point in picking up old discontinued tech. Cheap or not. 

If I were to set up developing something I would aim for something new.

It is also why I like the smartwatch development over pebble option. Eventually the old pebbles will stop working. 

But I like that @Sebawent for it to try the Eyeride. Might be too soon to deem it out. 

Well the old hardware is discontinued, but I believe the Google Glass ecosystem/apis/etc are still in development/being carried forward in newer iterations. So that means developing on the platform could still have future life, while benefitting from access to cheaper older hardware in the interim. (Like developing on a cheap old Android phone but in anticipation of newer Android devices.)

[redfoxdude]

8 hours ago, AtlasP said:

What about the original Google Glass? I know they were pretty sh1tty (just a few lines of monochrome text), but I bet you could get one pretty cheap on ebay, and could at least provide speed, battery, maybe text turn-by-turn directions.

They actually had a full color display. I have one around here somewhere... The hardware is reaalllyyy slow, and the battery life isn't anything to write home about, either. It is really neat though, and notifications and messaging are really cool with it.

It looks like they still go for several hundred on eBay, though much less than when they were new! Although Google is still developing for their Enterprise edition, I don't believe there are currently any plans to revive a consumer version.

[Seba]

Ok, so for now integration of EyeRide HUD with EUC World is put on hold. The main cause isn't EyeRide deficiences, but Google delaying publication of Android Auto SDK. For now there is no supported way of developing AA-enabled apps for independent developers like me.

[Mithcio]

On 04/01/2021 at 8:26 PM, Seba said:

Some background first. Few months ago I was asked to add support for EyeRide HUD to EUC World. EyeRide is a helmet-mounted display that could be used to display some vital information from EUC World application. At that time this was just a project published on Kickstarter and  Indiegogo. As it seemed to be an interesting idea, I decided to back it on Indiegogo. As it later turned out, the project was several months late. Finally, I received my device today.

EyeRide HUD is a display compatible with Android Auto. This means it may display information from apps that are compatible with Android Auto, just like some car infotainment screens are. The only difference is that EyeRide HUD is using wireless connection. One could say - ok, that's great! I don't want to have any wires hanging down from my helmet. I agree, but if we take a look at the Google requirements for wireless Android Audio connectivity, we'll see that for making it working, we need:

1. Mobile device running Android 11, or
2. Google or Samsung running Android 10, or
3. Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, or Note 8, with Android 9.0.

More, apart from requirements above, device has to be equipped with 5 GHz WiFi networking. Your device doesn't meet these requirements? Forget about EyeRide HUD.

Being an experienced IT guy and Android developer, I was able to make it working with my Huawei P30 Pro under Android 10 after some 2-3 hours of fight, trials and errors, throwing bad words and magical spells. Finally I got this working, but... lost Internet connectivity. It's because EyeRide is using WiFi connection (and also BT connection). The problem is that my Huawei tries to route all Internet requests to active WiFi connection, while it's used by EyeRide. While there's an option (in hidden developer settings) to force Android to use cellular connection even if WiFi is active, it didn't worked  for me.

EyeRide consists of two pieces - first one is a display prism that is mounted somewhere to the front part of helmet, so the prism part is located at about 1,5 cm ahead of your right eye. The second part is the circular controller, that is mounted on the right side of the helmet using 3M VHB tape. Well... I expected this to me more like my Sena S10.

Controller part is connected with the prism by flat cable that is fixed. You can't separate two parts. EyeRide is not only an Android Auto compatible display. Actually, it also works as a Bluetooth communication set. While not shown on photos, there is also a set of flat speakers and a mic included. Controller part is equipped with USB-C connector for charging. Entire device is claimed to be IP54.

I'll be posting updates and more details later, as I'll get experience with EyeRide, but for now I can say that I'm rather sceptical about it. Some users that received their items earlier report that battery lasts for only about of one hour of riding. Limited device compatibility and problematic setup may discourage many users to use this.

Hi!

I'm new and maybe I'm not using the search function correctly or missed this info when I was reading the thread, so please direct me to the answer if I'm asking for something already covered:

Could you share the instructions on how you paired EyeRide with P30 PRO? I wasted two nights trying everything and I keep failing...

Thanks a lot!

Igor

[RayBanMonster]

My EyeRide Eyelights experience

So ...

Received my EyeRide (it was USED, small scratch and no covering EyeRide paper as seen in Sebas package.... so now I know I was right to complain) .

The unit has speakers and headphone which are rubbish) I do not connect them. They came oddly volume imbalanced so had to request new ones).

I kept the unit in the end, I accept working in hardware new items are actually many times used so....

Tricky set up.. because it uses Bluetooth  (app configuration) and mainly WiFI for main functionality with the phone. so no WiFi without manual network switching which is ok on the move but a hassle at home.

Had to turn down the brightness at night , but in the day I have to turn up brightness.

Attachment of unit to helmet was problematic because the prism assembly uses stickers but the area on my helmet is fabric, removable for washing and so the stickers were not going to work over time. Problem was solved by attaching VELCRO to the helmet  to hold the vertical part of the assembly attachment area.

I use the free IOS app WAYS on my iPhone. This displays map & my speed as well as speed limit for road I am on. This is the main reason I purchased the unit but i still use apple watch running darknessbot to show me my battery  /voltage levels.

Battery life is not as expected but Went on a long ride today and it lasted today the whole ride. 1hr:18mins. I believe how you configure it has effect on  battery usage.  It so far lasted about 1.5hrs  with about 30% battery left on indicator today. , so I don't know why it seemingly ran so low quickly prior.. (configuration?) .

 

I almost returned the thing but now Ive tweaked everything and got used to the issues(  like having to switch off Bluetooth and back on to allow my iphone to play music to my IPODS PRO) , Ive gotten used to its quirks.

I expected an overall performance score of 8/10 at purchase ( back in April 2020)

When I first got them  in December I rated it 5/10

After the tweaking and getting used o the device I now rate overall performance and usage as a good 7.5/10

 

I like it now. but I wouldn't buy this on the first iteration knowing what I know now.

Upside: My helmet has a bright ring of blue (or other)  on it at night, I look good.. I look like a cyborg with this thing close to over one eye.

Downside: fiddly set up & battery is questionable.

Hope that helps some folk.

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by RayBanMonster