Hövding is a bicycle helmet unlike the others on the market: It does not ruin your hair.
In fact it is not even placed on your head. Instead it is a cool looking collar worn around the neck with an airbag inside, ready to inflate when an accident occurs.
Before going into volume production, Altran was assigned to develop a part of the embedded software in cooperation with the Hövding team.
Hövding is a bicycle helmet unlike the others on the market: It does not ruin your hair. In fact it is not even placed on your head. Instead it is a cool looking collar worn around the neck with an airbag inside, ready to inflate when an accident occurs.
 |
The helmet, shown to the world for the first time at the Technical Fair in Stockholm last year, has been invented by Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin and their company Hövding employs 14 people today.
The actual collar is the visible part of the invention. |
The airbag is shaped like a hood that surrounds your head and is made in an ultra-strong nylon fabric. The way the hood is designed and folded into the collar ensures that it will inflate quickly and safely before head impact.
The gas inflator that inflates the airbag is placed in a holder in the collar on the bicyclist’s back. The airbag is deployed by sensors – accelerometers and gyros – that pick up a bicyclist’s abnormal movements in the event of an accident. The sensors then send a signal to the gas inflator to inflate the airbag.
Innovation and Design at its best
When the helmet is switched on, the sensors are constantly monitoring the wearer’s movements. Normal movements won’t cause Hövding to inflate, but accidents will. The sensors, together with a patented mathematical method distinguishing normal and abnormal movements, make it possible.
“It took us almost six years to gather data on the movement patterns of bicyclists and to develop the complete product. Now we’re ready for take off on a large scale. The helmets will be available this autumn through retailers and on our own web shop,” says Anna Haupt. “We chose Altran. They were very professional in their sharp understanding for our complex needs. They were perceptive and could easily adapt to our time pressured demands. And we very much appreciate their enthusiastic commitment”, says Anna Haupt. Facts Hövding Sverige AB manufactures invisible helmets for bicyclists. The company provides its products through retailers and their own Web shop. Hövding Sverige AB is based in Malmö, Sweden.