The collaboration between Goodyear and short-haul tech firm Gatik claims to have demonstrated that they can create intelligent tyres which can accurately estimate road friction potential and provide real-time information.
The proof of concept design should be an important step towards safer and more sustainable goods movement through autonomous transportation, the two firms have told the media.
Powered by Goodyear SightLine technology the technology accurately estimates tyre-road friction potential via real-time information relayed to Gatik’s automated driving system (ADS).
The breakthrough is said to add more utility to what a tyre can deliver by providing critical data that can help enhance vehicle safety and performance, increasing efficiency and value for Gatik’s customers in the B2B short-haul market.
Goodyear and Gatik recently deployed road-friction detection capabilities in Canada through continuous measurement of tyre sensor-derived information, which is paired with other vehicle data and connected to Goodyear’s cloud-based proprietary algorithms to optimise vehicle performance.
Friction estimates from Goodyear’s SightLine solution were successfully able to detect low grip conditions, such as snowy or icy conditions, and make this information available to Gatik’s autonomous fleet, “enhancing safety and performance for Gatik’s commercial operations in Canada’s challenging winter climate”.
With road-friction data, tyres can help enable smoother, safer and more sustainable driving. This is critical information for autonomous vehicles in terms of path planning and providing recommendations for safe driving speed, vehicle acceleration limits and vehicle following distance.
Goodyear SightLine technology is designed to measure the tire wear state, load, inflation pressure and temperature.
It combines that with real-time road-weather data and proprietary rubber friction models to estimate the tyre-road friction potential. Having this information in real-time enables Gatik’s fleet to safely and efficiently respond to challenging conditions within its operational design domain (ODD).
While Goodyear’s SightLine technology has tremendous future implications for autonomous driving, this year it is anticipated that Goodyear will also be deploying Goodyear SightLine technology on select original equipment vehicles bringing immediate utility to today’s mobility market.
“The tyre 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.”
“At Gatik, we’re dedicated to providing our customers with a solution that continues to raise industry standards in safety, efficiency and performance,” added Gatik co-founder Arjun Narang.
“Using Goodyear’s groundbreaking SightLine technology helps us to operationalize these principles and ensures that we’re delivering greater value and enhancing safety on the middle mile today.”
