Goodyear unveils advanced tyre concepts

Goodyear has rolled out two advanced tyre concepts – Eagle 360 and IntelliGrip – at the Geneva motor show during the week. And the tyre brand makes big claims for both, in a future based on autonomous (self-driving) cars.

The Eagle 360, recalling the tyres fitted to the Audi in the film 'I, Robot', is a spherical tyre. In its press release, Goodyear says of this tyre that it has the "maneuverability, connectivity and biomimicry for autonomous mobility."

In other words, it's a more distant prospect than the IntelliGrip, which has in-built sensors and 'treadwear technology' and "is a solution for the earlier adoption of self-driving vehicles."

Safety has been the primary factor in the development of these two tyres, Goodyear says. The company has been researching consumer concern in regard to autonomous motoring. It has prompted Joseph Zekoski, Goodyear's senior vice president and chief technical officer, to highlight the importance of tyre contact with the road as human involvement in daily driving diminishes.

“By steadily reducing the driver interaction and intervention in self-driving vehicles, tires will play an even more important role as the primary link to the road,” Zekoski was quoted saying in the company's press release.

“Goodyear’s concept tires play a dual role in that future both as creative platforms to push the boundaries of conventional thinking and testbeds for next-generation technologies.”

The Eagle 360 has been developed specifically to aid automomous vehicle parking, and sensors embedded within the tyre can monitor environmental conditions (including standing water on the road) and communicate that information to other road users. Goodyear anticipates the Eagle 360 would not be directly fitted to the car, but would keep the car suspended by means of magnetic levitation, which the company says would deliver a very smooth and quiet ride. Finally, the Eagle 360's 'biomimicry' results in a tread pattern that delivers the same sort of sponge-like qualities as brain coral – firmer in the day, softer in the wet. This would naturally resist aquaplaning.

The IntelliGrip features integrated sensors that convey to the autonomous vehicle that the road surface is wet, for instance, or presumably that a cross wind is blowing. Other elements of the IntelliGrip are active-wear technology, algorithms to factor in inflation and tyre temperature, adaptability to different driving conditions, and compatibility with developing autonomous technology.