Goodyear's milestone year: 4 trends emerging ahead of 125th anniversary

Age, they say, is just a number.

That said, Goodyear looks good for 125.

In August, the Akron-based tire maker will celebrate its 125th anniversary. And if the recent years are any indication of what could be ahead for Goodyear during its quasquicentennial and beyond, the future is both bright and sustainable.

Here's a look at just some of the tire trends that are emerging for the world's third-largest tire maker. They're trends that are sure to define Goodyear's operations and product offerings in the years ahead.

At Goodyear, sustainability is top-of-mind.

It's the compass leading the tire maker into the future and helping to shape every aspect of its business—from operations and manufacturing to product development and rollouts.

In the last year, Goodyear's sustainability journey has taken it to 60-, 70- and 90-percent-sustainable materials.

In January 2022, Goodyear demonstrated that it could produce a passenger car tire that contains 70 percent renewable, recyclable and bio-based materials. It was the highest sustainable-materials-content tire that any company had produced.

And Goodyear intends to bring that tire to the market later this year.

Following that feat, Goodyear showcased a 63-percent-sustainable-materials demonstration truck tire that it said proves just how far the tire maker can take its sustainable materials technology.

Just don't expect the company to slow down any time soon.

Earlier this month, Goodyear unveiled a 90-percent-sustainable-materials demonstration tire that passed all required regulatory and internal testing. It's all thanks to the sustainable ingredients—17 in all, across 12 different tire components.

And when it comes to those high-performance sustainable materials, well, Goodyear's found a good one in soybean oil, which it uses as a replacement for petrochemical-derived oils in its tires.

"With the case of soybean oil, we were looking for it to contain similar properties to petroleum-based oil, namely, high-thermal stability and compatibility with the different synthetic rubbers or natural rubber that we use in our products," Goodyear Chief Engineer Bob Woloszynek told Rubber News last year. "What we actually found out was that soybean oil mixes better with the polymers that we use in our tire products. So that, right there, was already a significant advantage."

Plus, Woloszynek said, it's better for the environment, especially given soybeans' availability in the U.S. and the fact that the oil derived from them doesn't impact food supplies.

The successes Goodyear has seen with soybeans also has given it the confidence to take sustainability further by setting a goal to eliminate petroleum-based oils in its products by 2040.

Mobility is changing. Its future is electrified, connected and autonomous.

And that space—that still-not-quite-defined but filled-with-possibility space—is right where Goodyear intends to be.

For years, Goodyear has done its best to understand and embrace new technologies rising around new mobility. Its Goodyear Ventures arm has pledged to invest $100 million in new mobility technology and start-ups by 2030, opening opportunities for partnerships and technological advancements of its own.

Advancements already taking shape.

Goodyear and autonomous delivery startup Gatik put the tire maker's SightLine technology to the test.

The findings— SightLine can accurately estimate tire-road friction potential and provide real-time information to Gatik's automated driving system. That's a big step forward in the tire maker's aim to create safer, more sustainable products for autonomous transportation.

"The tire is the only part of the vehicle that touches the ground, and this new level of data sophistication can communicate vital information to the vehicle, enhancing safety and performance," said Chris Helsel, Goodyear's senior vice president, global operations and chief technology officer. "This is another step to evolve the tire to not only deliver its core, traditional job but also be a nexus of new data and information."

Goodyear is focused on designing, developing and manufacturing tires that best meet the needs of next-gen mobility. Tires that are more sustainable, last longer, maximize uptime and offer more in terms of fuel efficiency and range.

And you can bet that some of those tires will be airless.

Goodyear is committed to providing maintenance-free tires for any application that relies on autonomous vehicles. So it's focusing on nonpneumatic tire development and it's targeting fleets—large, small and in-between.

"We see the concept of 'fleet' showing up in shared mobility—fleets of passenger cars, fleets of microdelivery robots, fleets of different types of transportation, shuttles and things," Michael Rachita, senior program manager on Goodyear's nonpneumatic tires team, told Rubber News in August.

Already the tire maker has deployed some of its airless tire technology, leaning into partnerships with Starship—a maker of small, autonomous delivery robots—and Olli autonomous shuttles.

And Goodyear's seen success. It expects to have commercial-ready airless tire technology on the roads by 2030.

At CES earlier this month, the tire maker showcased and tested some of its latest NPT technology. Rubber News will have more on that in the coming weeks. For now, though, expect to see more from Goodyear on the nonpneumatic tire front in the months and years ahead.

For 70 years, Goodyear has pushed the limits of its tire technology, taking it to new heights and higher speeds, thanks to an on-going partnership with NASCAR.

Late in 2022, Goodyear extended its multi-year agreement with NASCAR and extends its position as the exclusive supplier to the series, a title it has held for about 25 years.

Partnerships, like the one with NASCAR, are key for Goodyear and the benefits extend far beyond marketing. It's an opportunity to test some of its biggest ideas, find what works and redefine tires to consumers.

But NASCAR isn't the only series taking Goodyear technologies to top speeds or new arenas.

In February, the tire maker signed an agreement to supply the ERA Championship series, which will operate as a support series to the Goodyear-supported FIA ETCR—e Touring Car World Cup.

The ERA Championship, which features electric-powered, single-seat, open-wheel racers, will run on one slick and one treaded wet specification tire that meets the demands of electric vehicles, such as their instant torque.

Those characteristics will be key for passenger car tires, too, as the auto industry continues it transition to electrification.