Role of tires changing as tech-driven auto industry evolves

The tires of tomorrow will look much like the tires of today. Maybe.

Will they be black? Probably, but not necessarily.

Will they be round? Most certainly.

Will they hold air? That all depends.

Just as today's tires share certain similarities with yesteryear's, tomorrow's will be the same as today's. In some respects.

Those with graying hair can remember the transition from bias ply tires to radials. But to the uninitiated, a tire over the years has looked like a tire for the most part, regardless of its construction.

Just as the introduction of radials fundamentally changed how most tires are produced and perform, the market for future tires will see improvements that will take travel into the next generation and beyond.

As CEO of the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, Anne Forristall Luke takes a big-picture approach when discussing the future of tires. And it's really more than just about tires.

"We're not just talking about tires anymore," she said. "We're talking about mobility solution strategies."

"Tires have always been connectors. Connecting people to economic opportunity and life experience through travel and mobility. And, now, that dynamic of being a connector especially is more fully coming to life than ever before," she said.

Essentially, Luke said, tires no longer can be viewed as, well, tires. They can and will serve an integral part of changes in mobility that will impact the environment and society as a whole.

Tire companies should no longer be thought of as merely suppliers, but instead partners with both car makers and consumers that help connect. "Now we think in terms of network, the platforms, smart infrastructure, smart tires," she explained.

Kind of like tire pressure monitoring systems that communicate with vehicles to help drivers know when it's time for some routine maintenance. Except more. So much more.

"We're evolving into completely new domains and new business models," Luke said.

Rick Cunat is managing director at Kumho Americas Technical Center.

"Tire technology will continue to advance at a much faster pace in the future. Materials, construction and intelligent tire technology have all been worked on for years in search of the breakthrough technology that will change the industry," he said.

"Since the performance requirements for tires are very challenging and many of them counteract each other, breakthroughs or major shifts have not happened often," Cunat said. "In many of these performance requirements, tires will remain the same except for air pressure. Most tire companies have been working on non-pneumatic tires. These have been applied to lawn mowers, ATVs, farm equipment. … But the application for passenger/light truck vehicles has been a challenge."

At Bridgestone Americas, Hans Dorfi is vice president of core engineering at a time when both his company and the entire industry are experiencing what he said is unprecedented change.

"Our overall approach to innovation is changing. We are building a product and solutions portfolio that is dynamic, modular and connected. In the past, we have focused on making products by ourselves. Now and in the future, we will co-create solutions with market leaders through partnerships and other strategic opportunities," Dorfi said.

But change takes time, and usually comes incrementally, he said.

"There have certainly been breakthrough moments in tire history like the radial tire, run-flat tires, and the introduction of silica in tread compounds. However, most technological progress is also made through incremental changes in material science, application technology, data science and market research," Dorfi said.

Preserving natural rubber

Kevin Rohlwing, senior vice president of training at the Tire Industry Association, looks at the future of tires from a different angle. His trade group represents thousands of tire dealers across the country.

And he said this future is still tied to the rubber tree.

"I think that natural rubber is at the top of every tire company's list right now, given the potential for climate change. … It's a critical component of tires, so trying to reduce the dependence on natural rubber or help ensure the sustainability of our natural rubber supply, I think, is at the top of the list moving forward," Rohlwing said.

"Tires are an agricultural product and most of that agricultural product is grown in Southeast Asia, in three main countries. So with the fact that you've got such a dependence on an agricultural product from a very remote location—a very specific area of the globe, one climate that will support the rubber tree—I think that's a big thing," he said.

"Trying to reduce that dependence on natural rubber is going to be a priority moving forward. And at the same point in time, sustainability. I think the two go hand in hand. While we are going to do everything we can to make it sustainable, we also have to plan for the day where it's going to be gone, because it could be," Rohlwing said.

Digital designs

With three decades under his belt in the tire business, Steve Rohweder said plenty has changed in terms of tire development technology over time.

The vice president of technology development at Goodyear said he used computer modeling in a very limited way in those early days. Now he expects to virtually design a tire completely in two years or so.

"When I hired in 30 years ago, we did a little bit of modeling on a few things on the side because everything was physical and experimental. Over the years, we've evolved that modeling capability to where we are doing a lot of analysis before we ever prototype a tire," he said.

"Our goal is to entirely do that iteration virtually," he said.

Bridgestone primarily develops new tires at its research and development centers.

"Overall, the R&D process starts with understanding the wants and needs of our customers. It's all about designing tires that meet their changing needs as the car parc continues to change," Dorfi said.

"Once the customer needs are identified, Bridgestone begins to leverage our advanced simulation capabilities. …There are typically multiple iterations and optimization phases before the tire is produced," he explained.

"Advanced simulation has significantly reduced timing to launch new products over the years by allowing multiple hypotheses and iterations to be tested virtually before ever reaching the prototype phase," Dorfi said. "We are constantly increasing the sophistication of our simulations."

But even with advanced technology, creating a new tire takes time, he said.

"Tires are highly engineered products with near infinite tuning potential, so there is a limit to how quickly product lines should be refreshed and new products introduced to the market," Dorfi said. "At the end of the day, we still need to build the tires and validate the performance on a vehicle, but today we can do a significant amount of the pre-work up front."

Smarter solutions

Future tires not only will connect with the vehicle, providing data to the drivers, but could also communicate with the road and even surrounding infrastructure to help determine driving conditions and situations.

"There's going to be an aspect of intelligence that's coming in the future," Goodyear's Rohweder said.

And central to the company's approach is Goodyear Sightline technology that uses sensors and what is described as cloud-based algorithms to inform operators about performance.

The predictive maintenance technology, the company said, will help anticipate breakdowns and monitor tire pressure and wear to help improve safety and save money.

Goodyear likened Sightline to a smart watch for tires. Instead of providing heart rate or blood oxygen levels, the technology monitors the performance and condition of the tire.

A convergence of connected, autonomous, shared and electric (CASE) megatrends, Bridgestone's Dorfi said, is helping drive changes in the tire industry

"The essential function of tires to deliver safe and efficient performance are unchanged, but these megatrends are resulting in unique demands being placed on tire technology not only in performance, but as a driver for environment improvement," he said.

"In the case of connected and autonomous (vehicles), tires need to become smarter through technologies built into the tire to assist the vehicle," Dorfi said. "As the only portion of the vehicle connected to the road, the tire has the unique ability to deliver valuable information to the vehicle in real time as road or tire conditions change. This makes drivers, vehicles, and tires smarter and safer.

"Electric vehicles pose a challenge in tire design to support unique design elements such as increased overall weight, higher torque, regenerative braking, the need for extended range and a quieter ride," Dorfi said.

Along with connectivity, the future for tires faces a more fundamental question. What will they look like?

Form and function

Airless tires, which rely on a sturdy inner structure instead of air, are emerging but still have a long way to go before they can be widely adopted.

TIA represents businesses that make their living selling and servicing pneumatic tires. As work on airless tires continues, TIA's Rohlwing said the industry ultimately will be hard-pressed to replace the pneumatic tire in most applications anytime soon.

"For the automotive market, to go to an airless tire, I know there are technologies out there, but the question is: Is it light enough? Is it sturdy enough? Is it flexible enough? Does it still provide the right traction? Is the ride similar to air?" Rohlwing asked. "It's pretty hard to beat riding on a cushion of air."

He does see a future where airless tires could thrive being used on truck trailers, where the wheels mostly move forward and are not subjected to the stress and strain of tires on the front of the big rigs. These trailer tires only have to roll and carry weight, he said. "They don't have to do much."

Whatever the future holds for tires, the general public will have its share of the say, Rohlwing said. The aesthetics of tires, because they are such a prominent part of a vehicle, also will play a role.

"For an old guy like me, I can't help but say, 'Hey you've pretty much got the perfect solution right there,' " with the current approach, he said. "Let's just keep making that better. Let's find ways to make natural rubber more sustainable. Let's reduce our dependency on it. Let's find a way to recycle better."

Regardless of future design, USTMA's Luke said, manufacturers will play a larger role in the years ahead.

"The way I look at it is tire manufacturers must be conveners and solution drivers and, as I said in the beginning, connectors. We have to be, this is very important. We have to be willing to be transparent in that and take a hard look at our values as organizations and businesses and our business models to make sure we are always pushing for the absolute best performance in every sense of the word," Luke said.

While the evolution of an industry is never like turning on a light switch, going from dark to light, Luke said, there has been tremendous acceleration in the industry in recent years about a broadening role tires can and will play.

"I would say, in the past couple of years, our understanding of our critical role as a connector, as a convener, as a solution driver in this mobility ecosystem has just accelerated exponentially," she said.

Lines of communication

Bridgestone sees a future where tires become much more integrated with both the vehicle and the driver.

"We are thinking beyond performance to how the tire can be a source of information for drivers and vehicles, such as air pressure, road conditions, wear life," Dorfi said.

"Connected vehicles and intelligent tires will also allow us to optimize the operational conditions, using predictive and prescriptive analytics and deliver further value to our customers. The insights from these connected transportation systems will also drive innovations in adjacent fields such as road surface quality monitoring or routing optimization," he said.

The tire industry takes what Cunat said is a "market-back" approach when designing new tires, with the needs based on customers and end-users.

"For OE, we obtain specific requirements for a specific vehicle platform and work with the OEM to optimize the performance for their specific vehicle. In addition, we obtain input from JD Power surveys each year that provide end user feedback specific to OE tires," he said.

"For the replacement market, we obtain feedback from customers and dealers on our performance. In addition, our marketing team is constantly monitoring the market and its needs. All of this information enables the business to determine when we should upgrade a tire, develop a new tire, and or enter a whole new segment in the market," Cunat said.

"Tire development time has significantly been reduced over the years through predictive tools that have advanced over the years. Currently, we can iterate tire construction and design variants through more advanced modeling. This enables us to reduce the number of physical build and testing iterations which takes much longer. The length of the development depends on the requirements of the application. In some cases, we can develop a tire within a year," Cunat said.

With growing emphasis on electric and autonomous vehicles, Cunat believes the tire industry will be in for plenty of change in the years ahead.

"As technology continues to evolve, the goal is to completely design and release in the virtual world. This is something many tire and vehicle manufacturers are working on together to find the ultimate solution," Cunat said. "The performance requirements for both vehicles and tires are very demanding, so this is a big and exciting challenge."

Rohweder said the tires of tomorrow will outperform those of today all along the supply chain, from environmental impact during construction to emissions from vehicle use to end-of-life disposal. But those improvements will take effort.

"It's a real puzzle right now to address all these changes that are coming. It's actually a pretty challenging problem," he said. "There's a lot that's changing."