Samsung Electronics' Italian subsidiary has introduced a "smart windshield" for motorcycles that displays information to riders about incoming messages from their smartphone. Samsung has teamed up with Yamaha to fit a prototype—which remains a concept at this point—to its Tricity motorcycle.

Samsung says it developed the technology, with dedicated app, to help combat the problem of distracted driving—which the company says contributes to 25% of all accidents among young motorists in Italy. The windshield connects wirelessly with the rider's smartphone, displaying information relating to calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages, emails and other notifications so that the rider doesn't have to remove his hands from the handlebars to check his or her smartphone.

The display—which actually sits beneath the windshield rather than replacing it—does not allow for any interactivity on the part of the rider. Samsung advises riders that the technology is designed merely to allow them to "decide if you want to stop and answer. Or send an automatic message to explain you're on the road."

Samsung has fitted the smart windshield to Yamaha's Tricity motorcycle. Image credit: Yamaha. The smart windshield is not Samsung's first foray into the world of electronics-enabled smart functions for transportation. In 2015, the company debuted a prototype "transparent" truck—utilizing a wireless camera that displayed road conditions ahead of the truck for the benefit of drivers located behind it via monitors lodged on the back of the truck. The year before, Samsung developed a prototype smart bike that, among other functions, used a rear-mounted camera that fed a live video stream to a handlebar-mounted Samsung telephone.