Project Jacquard is something that has come out of Google’s Advanced Technology and Project Group (ATAP) and aims to bring wearable (literally) technology to another level. Well, one brand has already taken a bite out of this potential golden apple, as Levis announced that it will be releasing a Commuter Jacket for bicyclists by next year. It will be using the touch-sensitive material and the platform that Google has created for it in order to create a connected world for users riding bikes.
The jacket in itself is the platform and when connected to your smartphone will allow you to receive and control some of the apps on your mobile device. Developers will also be able to add even more functionality for their apps through the jacket. For now, some of the services that are connected to the jacket include messages and calls, Google Maps and Google Play, and even some third-party apps like Spotify and Strava.
For this to work, the jacket has a “Jacquard Tag” or a woven gesture sensor that is connected through the cuff and to a USB dongle. This dongle is plugged to a computer in order to sync to your connected device. Google will be releasing a Jacquard app as well, so the apps on your smartphone will be connected to your jacket. To access your data, there will also be a Jacquard cloud services.
A video released showed a glimpse of how the jacket will function, but there are not many details about it yet. It will be released in Spring 2017, but Levis and Google will probably come up with a beta release sometime so just watch out for further news if you want to be on that beta program.
VIA: SlashGear
