Bridgetown and Michelin progress in tires without punctures

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Bridgestone’s car parts provider checks the successes in tires that never feed, potentially smoothing the way for more vehicles.

The Japanese company, which with France Michelin is the world’s largest vendor, has developed a version without air that says it can support a 1-ton car that goes 60 km per hour, which is a great progress over solid tires.

New computer structures and materials have led to significant innovations to increase their performance at greater speed and weight, which causes their applicants to replace pneumatic tires, as well as vehicles without drivers who put a security award and do not stop.

But huge performance and costs of pneumatic tires make them extremely difficult for ejection.

New tires are being conducted on transfer buses and tourist vehicles when Japan seeks to bring autonomous management to rural communities to resolve drivers and mechanics. Innovation is also considered as a potential differentiate against the background of Chinese and Indian competition.

“If we eventually get to the autonomous ride, there will be great importance in avoiding vehicles that stop deeply in the mountains without a driver from the blast,” said Masaki Otto, the development of the new Bridgeestone mobility business.

Computer modeling helped to create tires with the back structure laid in the rubber tread, with the needles able to bounce and bend at more speeds and weights, without dragging on the fuel consumption, smooth riding and safety compared to preliminary miserable tires.

Tires can indicate a reduction in maintenance costs and reduced risk of liability from autonomous accidents caused by punctures.

But experts fear the design, and the cost production is several times than pumped with tires, can fight for niche. Bridgestone also turned the usual logic of innovation, focusing on low efficiency for the mass market instead of testing products in high -performance races.

Replacing all pneumatic tires with non -vertebrates is “a utopia that will cost too much,” said Florent Menega, CEO Michelin. The company has worked on mintless tires for 20 years and has already put its own version called Tweel, in smaller cars such as lawn mowers in the United States.

“To move from the lawn mower to the car to drive at 50 km per hour, it creates other problems,” he said. Analysts have said analysts are the risk of flying stones that fly out of the spokes and maintain high -speed performance and weights.

Michelin conducted tests of its punctures, unmistakable tires on small minibuses for DHL and La Poste delivery groups, but rubber and aluminum wheels remain in the prototype stage.

Menega said Michelin was “not ready from an industrial point of view” to accept it further, despite the fact that the logistics groups were “very happy”.

Bridgestone hopes to evaluate customers’ readiness to pay for air tires through demonstrations, such as a six -point car that drives self -driving in the mountainous area of ​​the city of Igashiy, in which more than half of 309 inhabitants become older.

“We honestly have not yet reached a clear vision of how much this business will do and what it will be,” Otto said. “But we don’t expect to find out.”

Encouraging to major acting tirhemakers is convincing. Their business model is threatened with cheaper Chinese and Indian competition because the tires have become goods, and they lose about 5 percent a year from the total volume, according to a specialized Tire research consultant.

Instead, tire providers want to expand services. Customers regularly return to remake the tires without air-grind, which will last 10 years against three to five for pneumatic tires.

“I do not yet know if they will work in terms of fulfilling all the technical requirements of life, fuel savings and the cost that need the world,” said David Show, Executive Director of the Tire Industry Research.

But success was more likely than not, he added, because “pneumatic tires is pain.”