Pirelli extends 'joint lab' to expand VR in tire development

MILAN—Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is linking up to expand virtual reality capabilities for tire development.

The Italian tire maker signed a new agreement with Milan Polytechnic and Polytechnic Foundation to continue the "joint labs" research program, which the three entities launched a decade ago.

The three-year extension (2021-23) will target the enhancement of the potential of virtual modeling and will focus on materials and cyber development, said Pirelli in a Dec. 2 statement.

Pirelli's static simulator, installed at the company's research and development center in Milan, as well as the dynamic simulator in the Politecnico, will play a "pivotal" role in the program, which will now also include driving simulators, the company said.

The $2.3-million agreement will investigate the integrated use of static and dynamic simulators to optimize the development and testing of new tires, reduce lead times and strengthen collaborations with car manufacturers.

In the materials area, the program will study the modification of polymers, nano-fillers, protective tire materials, new environmental materials as well as "open-source modelling for mixing and modelling of textile reinforcements."

The research will also cover "product and cyber development," which will include areas such as external and internal noise, tire aerodynamics and automated tread modelling.

Cyber development will target the design and consolidation of models for intelligent vehicle control data and development of value-added services from cyber systems, the tire maker said.

Pirelli and Milan University started their joint lab program 10 years ago and have until now registered 14 patent families and published 30 articles in international scientific journals.

"Our priorities with the 'joint labs' program take in all aspects of sustainability, evolved automation, virtualization and connectivity," said Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli's executive vice-chairman and CEO.

"The collaboration with the university underlines our commitment to strengthen the core of our group's know-how in these key areas within Italy," he added.