I love some new or emerging tech, and seeing an established brand like GoPro looking to acquire Forcite Helmets is very cool.
Through Ausdroid, I’ve had the chance to review a lot of GoPro equipment over the last few years. The cameras are just about (I haven’t actually tested it…) bulletproof and they’re ridiculously easy to use now. When the GoPro Hero 9 came to be, a new market also emerged for them: Vloggers.
But there’s still that pedigree that GoPro is well entrenched as the original action camera. So it makes sense, as announced last month, for GoPro to look at acquiring Forcite. The vision for Forcite is to provide safer and more dynamic motorcycling. Inbuilt alerts for navigation, speed or Police alerts, as well as other important notifications which are programmable.
As part of the release, GoPro founder and CEO, Nicholas Woodman spoke about the pending deal:
The greater helmet market represents a meaningful TAM expanding opportunity for GoPro, and we’re excited for the Forcite team to join us so that together we can work towards enhancing the performance and safety of various types of helmets, starting with motorcycle helmets.
Perhaps taking a step further, I can see there’s other options too, for such a well technically endowed helmet and with a bit of development – a real asset in motorsport. Obviously integrating a higher quality camera say… GoPro into the helmet will make the video quality even better; but also (for compatible timing systems) having visual indicators for sector and lap times.
Going even further, knowing if there are other cars close to you, yellow or red flags on track with a visual indicator in the driver/rider peripheral vision has the potential to make motorsport safer and more enjoyable at a grass roots level.
There’s a lot that could be explored when the acquisition closes, and I’m honestly looking forward to seeing where it takes connectivity and visibility on the road and on the track.
