Google and Levi's cooperation in developing touchable jackets can also call and navigate

According to TechCrunch, a technology website, Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Department (ATAP) announced an interactive textile project called Project Jacquard last year. After a year, Google disclosed the latest developments in the project. According to IVA Poupyrev, an ATAP executive, today, Google is working with the famous clothing manufacturer Levi's to develop a "networked" smart jacket for urban cyclists. The jacket will be connected to a smartphone, and the wearer can control music, answer calls, navigate, and more by simply clicking and swiping over the cuff.

The partnership between Google and Levi's was reached last year, but the two companies did not disclose how Levi's technology would be used in the Project Jacquard project. The Project Jacquard project "weaves" multi-touch sensors into clothing, making it a wearable computing device.

According to Google, the idea of ​​the jacket called Commuter Trucker is to combine stylish wear with practical technology.

Today, cyclists often have to look at their phones on busy streets, which is very dangerous.

With Levi's Commuter Trucker jacket, riders now have different touch functions to achieve different functions through the cuffs of the touch jacket. Previously, they had to take out their phones to operate.

The jacket belongs to Levi's Commuter clothing category, and the target users in this category are mainly urban residents who use bicycles.

The jacket's cuffs incorporate Project Jacquard's "attachment", which makes everything possible. The accessory can be removed and charged via USB, which is connected to the LED light in the jacket, the tactile feedback system, the battery and the fabric sensor. The connection point cleverly utilizes the buttonholes of the cuffs, which makes it look less awkward.

In addition, the platform includes a mobile app that connects the jacket to the cloud.

Google emphasizes that users can use this smart jacket like traditional clothing, such as folding, washing and so on.

“The unique challenge of creating a smart clothing platform is that fashion and technology must be 'in one,' but there are inherent contradictions between the two,” Poprelev said. “Technology is easy to damage, but clothing doesn’t.”

In addition to being able to control calls, Google Maps and Play Music, Google says the jacket will also interact with third-party services. For example, this means that users can also control Spotify music or control fitness applications such as Strava. Google will provide related application programming interfaces (APIs).

During the stage presentation, the two companies showed off the specific working style of a jacket.

For example, the finger continuously slides up and down the cuff to control the volume. Another feature called "Compass" needs to be swiped once in the cuff, after which the voice assistant will inform the user of the time of the next meeting and how long it will take to reach the meeting place.

Google said it will work with other apparel manufacturers, including sportswear companies, to expand the Jacquard project audience.

Commuter Trucker is still in the demonstration stage, and Google said it will conduct a beta test this fall, and its official launch will be in the fall of 2017.