LAS VEGAS—Goodyear's got some great, big goals for its tires—the 100-percent kind of big.
Goals like 100-percent sustainable materials. And maintenance-free.
The good news is that Goodyear's also got a whole lot of innovation on its side, and that will be key for the 125-year-old company as it strives to lead the industry toward sustainability. And that journey is likely to take the tire maker right through the airless tire space.
"Goodyear has set a goal to develop the first 100-percent sustainable-material and maintenance-free tire by 2030," Michael Rachita, Goodyear's senior program manager for Innovation Technology, told Rubber News. "NPTs (nonpneumatic tires) are a promising path to get us there, and we are working to leverage this technology for many forms of mobility, including fleets."
Yes, Goodyear is ramping up its focus on airless technology—technology it's dubbed as NexTrek—and working to find the best fit for it. The most promising spaces are, of course, on the autonomous vehicle side where maintenance-free solutions are quickly becoming an expectation.
And when it comes to NexTrek, Goodyear is targeting any application it can, big or small. That includes the passenger and light commercial vehicle tire space where autonomous vehicle technology has great potential to take root, especially when you think of ride sharing or last-mile delivery.
As that technology takes shape and the focus really becomes centered on maximizing uptime, maintenance-free tires are going to be critical. So Goodyear sees promise in airless.
"Nonpneumatic tires are a unique tire architecture that could offer important advantages, including greater durability and minimal maintenance," Rachita said. "We are working to leverage it for autonomous, passenger and light commercial vehicles in the future."
The future is nearly here, and for some it may have arrived a little early.
Welcome to Las Vegas.
The city last month served as a real-world, uncontrolled proving ground for Goodyear's NexTrek tire technology. The airless tires were fitted on a vehicle that traveled the famous Las Vegas Strip.
"Las Vegas always has a steady buzz of excitement, and it was a great backdrop to highlight some key innovations Goodyear has made to advance mobility," Rachita said, pointing to advancements in sustainable materials tires as well as connected vehicle technology.
In highlighting the technology, Goodyear also learned a little bit about perfecting it, too. While the company didn't say specifically what insights it had hoped to gain from the trials, it did note that Las Vegas testing helped to confirm it's moving in the right directions.
And the insights from those Las Vegas field tests will go a long way in helping to move NPT development forward.
"We are continuing to make significant progress with our NPTs, including (in) recent in-field testing on consumer electric and commercial autonomous vehicles," Rachita said.
That, of course, is just one tiny step among the big strides the tire maker says it's taking.
"We have made significant progress on the development of our NexTrek airless tire solution, in many thanks to our partners," Rachita said. "The testing results provide us the data we need to continue to improve this innovation and get us closer to providing customers with leading technology in maintenance-free mobility solutions."
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