Products & Innovations / Technologies
Technologies
Goodyear’s innovative spirit and drive for excellence puts us at the epicenter of the mobility revolution.
Advanced forms of mobility—such as fleets, autonomous transportation, connected cars and electric vehicles—are transforming the tire industry and have the potential to make driving safer and more sustainable. Goodyear is positioned for success through our commitments to advanced safety, tire longevity, comfort and convenience, as well as several digital-based solution offerings.
Creating Efficiencies in Tire Development
Goodyear was the first and currently one of the only tire manufacturers to have fully dynamic simulator capabilities across the globe.
Our DiM250 (driver-in-motion) dynamic simulators, in both our Akron and Luxembourg Innovation Centers, allow Goodyear to prepare and execute driving simulation runs and feed data back to the tire engineering teams, wherever they are located.
Simulated driving enables systematic collection of hundreds of data channels, previously available only by labor-intensive instrumented testing. Not only do these efforts allow tire models to be developed, tested and validated early in development cycle, they enable us to be a better partner to original equipment manufacturers, providing tire models at the right time when requested. Simulation will also help lead to fewer physical testing iterations and provide a more sustainable testing future.
Advancing Tire Performance
Here are just a few of the ways we’re advancing tire performance.
New Materials
Our technology teams work to investigate new alternative materials and incorporate innovation solutions into our products.
One example is our usage of a silica product made from residual rice husk ash which can help deliver performance similar to traditional sand-based silica – which can give a tire better traction and grip - yet is more environmentally friendly and helps reduce waste going to landfill.
Goodyear also utilizes commodity soybean oil, a surplus that is available beyond food applications. Soybean oil provides drivers increased performance by improving the flexibility of the tire in lower temperatures as well as enhancing traction in both rain and snow.
Innovative Tire Technology
We continue to develop new technologies to help enhance vehicle performance, safety and efficiency.
For example, our Durawall® Technology helps make the sidewalls of tires more resistant to cuts and punctures and our run-on-flat tires keep drivers on the road even after a puncture for up to 50 miles at 50 mph in normal conditions.
For EV drivers, we incorporate noise-canceling technology into our ElectricDrive tire line to reduce interior cabin noise, leading to a quieter and more comfortable driving experience.
Original Tread Design
Our optimized tread patterns and specialized tread compounds can help improve rolling resistance, which is essential to improving fuel efficiency.
Our tread designs can also help contribute to shorter braking distances by maximizing traction and optimizing road contact through high-grip compounds, sipes and grooves and optimized tread block arrangement. This can help provide drivers with increased safety and confidence, especially during critical braking events.
Proactive Insights
Goodyear offers a variety of proactive insights and solutions focused on enhancing safety, durability and efficiency.
For example, our tire pressure monitoring systems for fleets can alert drivers of pending inflation issues; our mobile apps can give fleet managers proactive maintenance reminders; our fleet management solutions can offer full vehicle readiness; and our connected tires can enable early detection of potential issues, helping fleets minimize downtime.
Digitizing the Connection with the Road
Tires are the only element of the vehicle that touches the ground, and this contact point has the potential to provide important data to the vehicle. Intelligent tires can read the road and report back to the vehicle with the goal of driving enhanced levels of safety and performance.
Goodyear SightLine, the company’s global tire intelligence platform, can identify and address potential tire-related issues and relay information that only tires can feel. It is designed to measure the tire wear state, load, inflation pressure and temperature and report on what is happening outside of the tire as well, including road conditions.
Bringing immediate utility to the mobility market, Goodyear SightLine is currently available for light cargo van fleets, autonomous systems and select original equipment vehicles.
Developing New Tire Architectures
New tire architectures are going to play an important role as we continue to address advancing forms of mobility.
Goodyear’s development work in non-pneumatic tires (NPTs) is leading to products that are designed to eliminate flats and air pressure checks, contributing to worry-free performance. The unique engineering of Goodyear’s airless tire solution allows for no loss of tire pressure, and because of this, NPTs have the potential to improve longevity, lower maintenance costs and help enable a more sustainable future.
