Smart shirt will warn company when bus driver falls asleep at the wheel
A new generation of wearable technology is promising not only to log data about users’ health but to predict and avert crises.
Take smartwear company AiQ’s lycra cycling top - which Taiwan’s bus drivers will get to wear later this year - for example.
Said AiQ vice-president Steve Huang: “We will provide a shirt which can monitor the drivers in case they are falling asleep, or in case any vital signs are not okay, and it will provide a signal or a warning to the bus company.”
The top has stainless steel fibres in the fabric and electrodes in the sleeves to sense heart rate, other vital signs and calories burnt.
Wearable technology is the fastest growing category at this year’s Computex, Asia’s largest tech trade show which began in Taiwan on Tuesday, with health-tracking a dominant theme.
Market tracker IDC has predicted that sales of wearable tech items will triple this year to 19 million units worldwide, growing to 111.9 million by 2018.
Source: AFP
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