Goodyear is returning to CES with an astounding incremental improvement – 90 percent sustainable materials will be used in this one! Huzzah! A whopping 20% greater sustainability!
According to Goodyear, the 90% mix has already been tested and authorised for road usage by the Department of Transportation. The business is still working with its supply chain partners to obtain enough precursor materials to commercialise them, with the goal of developing a completely sustainable mix by 2030.
Aside from having a smaller carbon footprint, the 90% tyres are said to have a lower rolling resistance than the company’s test reference tyres, which translates to improved gas efficiency and longer EV ranges. Four distinct varieties of carbon black derived from organic and inorganic sources are among the new materials, as are soybean oil and rice husk silica, post-consumer polyester, and bio-renewable pine tar resins.
“Last January, we announced a 70% sustainable-material tyre, and while we celebrated this accomplishment, we knew it laid the groundwork for us to continue pushing forward,” said Chris Helsel, senior vice president, global operations, and chief technology officer.
Goodyear tyres of the future will be intelligent as well, thanks to a collaboration with Gatik. The tiremaker announced its collaboration with the B2B logistics company to develop SightLine, a proof-of-concept technology that “can accurately estimate tire-road friction potential and provide real-time information to Gatik’s automated driving system (ADS),” according to a company release Wednesday.
The grip-sensing technology was recently successfully trialled by the two businesses in Toronto. Data from tyre sensors is combined with information from other vehicle systems, such as tyre wear state, load, inflation pressure, and temperature, and fed into “Goodyear’s cloud-based proprietary algorithms,” which jiggle and cajole the information into friction estimates that help onboard systems detect “low grip” conditions. These estimations will then be communicated with the rest of the Gatik autonomous vehicle fleet in the area. It remains to be seen if this technology, either the sensor system or the sustainable tyres, advances.
