The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has signed a technology agreement with California-based Tesloop Inc. to study and model tire performance based on data generated by the city-to-city mobility service.
Tesloop operates an expanding fleet of semi-autonomous Tesla vehicles, providing a shared passenger transportation service for distances between 50 and 300 miles.
Since its launch in July 2015, Tesloop has been collecting data at a rate now approaching 20,000 miles per month on each vehicle. The company’s first vehicle in service, a 2015 Tesla Model S, is passing the 250,000 mile mark, running exclusively on Goodyear tires.
“Leveraging our deep knowledge and experience in tire design, testing and fleet operations, our goal is to ensure that we can offer the most innovative range of tire-related technologies and services for the next generation of connected passenger mobility fleets,” said Jim Euchner, vice president of global innovation at Goodyear. “Tesloop’s leadership in the utilization of semi-autonomous, connected, electric cars gives us insights today into the next generation of ‘mobility’ where driving vehicles 250,000 miles a year may be a common occurrence.”
“Over the next few years, we believe that all leading passenger mobility services will migrate to autonomous, electric, supercharged vehicle platforms,” said Rahul Sonnad, Tesloop CEO. “This will drastically lower the cost of car transportation, increase miles driven and enable cars to run nearly 24 hours every day.”
Upcoming technology activities will focus on creating and validating predictive models for tire wear using cloud-based machine learning and predictive analytics systems. A further goal is to create data-driven triggers to optimize tire maintenance procedures.
“At Goodyear, we know that the ability to gather real-time information about the road, driving conditions, and driving patterns will play an increasing role in optimizing tire performance for autonomous vehicles,” Euchner said. “With increasing amounts of data being compiled from an array of vehicle sensors as well as internet data sources, there is an unprecedented opportunity to create a new real-time digital framework that may enhance both safety and range, while lowering operational costs.”
“With the advent of the autonomous, connected, electric car, the automobile is undergoing its most transformative upgrade of the last 100 years,” said Sonnad. “More than just cars, our vehicles are effectively nodes on a deeply-digital electric transportation network. And in this world, tires are by far the most important ongoing maintenance cost factor.”
