Autonomous vehicles force suppliers to adapt

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.—"What happens if you wake up tomorrow and have no customer base?"

That was the question Steve Charles, vice president, product development for Bridgestone Americas Inc., asked of his audience at the 33rd Clemson University Global Tire Industry Conference at Hilton Head.

Charles was one of several industry speakers who spoke about the industry shakeup autonomous vehicles are causing, and what they are doing to meet that challenge.

The disruption caused by autonomous vehicles is the biggest the tire industry has faced since pneumatic tires replaced wooden spokes, according to Charles.

"This is a perfect storm," he said. It is driven not only by automated driving, but also by changes in global demographics, technological advances, regulations, changes in societal behavior and the drive toward environmental sustainability.

Silicon Valley is driving much of the disruption in the mobility market, along with ride-sharing platforms such as Uber and auto makers developing or acquiring autonomous technologies, he said.

Information technology, with its increased potential for modeling and simulation, has become a paramount issue for tire makers, according to Charles. Bridgestone recently renovated its IT building in Akron and centered all its data there, he said.

"We have stored the tapes that once filled a building on a card the size of a piece of paper," he said.

Meanwhile, millennials are driving less, using ride-sharing services more, and moving to walkable cities with accessible public transportation, according to Charles.

There are many possibilities for tire makers in this new situation, Charles said. These include:

• Closer relationships with OEMs;

• New revenue streams and business models;

• New partnerships and collaborations with Silicon Valley;

• Changing the human-machine interface and the driving/riding experience; and

• New or redefined tire attributes.

This last possibility is one of the most radical of all, according to Charles. As AVs become more widely accepted, tire makers will de-emphasize speed ratings and concentrate on intelligent tire technology he said.

These would include tire-to-vehicle cloud communication, real-time monitoring in hazardous conditions, and run-flat, non-pneumatic, self-sealing and other technologies in the quest for zero tolerance for tire failure, he said.

Bridgestone also is leading the way in sustainability, especially in alternative and diversified sources of natural rubber, according to Charles.

"Bridgestone is betting on guayule," he said, referring to the company's guayule research and development operations in Arizona.

AVs have thrown down a technological gauntlet to tire makers, according to Eric Chaniot, chief digital officer for Michelin.

"All tire companies must become technology companies first, and tire manufacturers after that," Chaniot said.

A current iPhone is 1,300 times more powerful than the computer that powered the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, according to Chaniot.

"By 2029, we will have computers as smart as a human brain," he said. "By 2050, computers will be 50 times smarter than the human brain. We need to understand that.

"For the first time ever, computers will give us back time," Chaniot said. "How do we take advantage of this, instead of being afraid?"

Michelin is proposing what it believes is a better way forward, according to Chaniot.

"If people can move, things will get better," he said. "We now realize that all mobility services have a digital part, and Silicon Valley is super-focused on customer experience.

"Tires have evolved as travelers' needs have evolved," he said. "We want to make sure we have the full level of control over the full life of a tire."

Hybrid and electric vehicles have a role to play in this effort, as does rolling resistance, according to Chaniot. "Lowering rolling resistance while keeping the same level of safety is a big deal," he said.

Among other ventures, Michelin recently equipped 200 buses in Venice, Italy, with radio frequency identification. Soon Michelin hopes to add RFID to all 600 buses in the Venice fleet, according to Chaniot.

"We are no longer just a vendor, but the provider of a solution," he said.

Managing IT is crucial for tire makers going forward, according to Chaniot.

"In 10 years, 40 to 50 percent of big companies will be irrelevant," he said. "If we don't want to become irrelevant, we must become technology companies."

Connected tires are building blocks that will lead to the AVs of the future, according to Jay Spears, director of standards and regulations for Continental Tire the Americas.

Telematics systems that read out information to truck fleets in real time also will be a great boon, according to Spears.

"One company that introduced telematics had a 33 percent reduction in tire maintenance costs immediately," he said. "We need to be able to have this information and tie it together."