AKRON—For Goodyear, the path to future mobility ventures off the paved roadways, on to the sidewalks and straight through the clouds.
Through a series of investments and partnerships, the Akron-based tire maker is learning to harness the power of today's technology to develop solutions that drive mobility further.
To do that, Goodyear needs data—lots of data—and plenty of feedback. It also needs some relatively efficient ways to collect and analyze those data points and ideas. By pairing the right insights with the right R&D, Goodyear can develop new solutions that provide its customers—consumers and fleet operators alike—with the know-how and ability to move confidently and efficiently within new mobility landscapes.
And that's where Goodyear Ventures comes in. The venture capital fund, through which the tire maker plans to invest $100 million in the coming decade, enables Goodyear to financially support promising start-up companies and technologies within the mobility spheres. It also allows the tire maker to partner with those innovative companies and expand its own understanding of the role it will play as a leader in the field.