For race car drivers, winning or losing can come down to fractions of a second. That’s why IndyCar racer Tony Kanaan is looking for every advantage he can get. He recently tested out a smart shirt made of a material called Hitoe, which provides feedback about his performance on the track.
The shirt’s fabric contains nanofibers—materials with diameters less than one billionth of a meter—that conduct electricity. The fibers sense things like Kanaan’s heart rate, muscle tension, and stress level. The feedback lets him know when he’s holding his breath or gripping the wheel too tightly—both of which can tire him out.
The best part of his new high-tech gear, says Kanaan, is that “the only thing you need to do is wear the shirt. It does the rest on its own.”